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MARY    QUEEN    OF  SCOTS 


TAIKTED  TF.OM  THE  ORKilUAL    ~BT     JOHN     WATSON   GORBOS    E..I.A. 


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HISTORY 


MARY   QUEEN   OF   SCOTS, 


BY  JACOB   ABBOTT. 


©©ft!)  SEttsrabfnjjs. 


NEW    YORK 
HARPER   &   BROTHERS,   PUBLISHERS, 

82   CLIFF    STREET 

184  9. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  forty-eight,  by 

Harper  &  Brothers, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District 
of  New  York. 


PREFACE. 


The  history  of  the  life  of  every  individual 
who  has,  for  any  reason,  attracted  extensively 
the  attention  of  mankind,  has  been  written  in 
a  great  variety  of  ways  by  a  multitude  of  au- 
thors, and  persons  sometimes  wonder  why  we 
should  have  so  many  different  accounts  of  the 
same  thing.  The  reason  is,  that  each  one  of 
these  accounts  is  intended  for  a  different  set  of 
readers,, who  read  with  ideas  and  purposes  wide- 
ly dissimilar  from  each  other.  Among  the 
twenty  millions  of  people  in  the  United  States, 
there  are  perhaps  two  millions,  between  the  ages 
of  fifteen  and  twenty-five,  who  wish  to  become 
acquainted,  in  general,  with  the  leading  events 
in  the  history  of  the  Old  World,  and  of  ancient 
times,  but  who,  coming  upon  the  stage  in  this 
land  and  at  this  period,  have  ideas  and  concep- 
tions so  widely  different  from  those  of  other  na- 
tions and  of  other  times,  that  a  mere  republica- 


viii  Preface. 

tion  of  existing  accounts  is  not  what  they  re- 
quire. The  story  must  be  told  expressly  for 
them.  The  things  that  are  to  be  explained, 
the  points  that  are  to  be  brought  out,  the  com- 
parative degree  of  prominence  to  be  given  to 
the  various  particulars,  will  all  be  different,  on 
account  of  the  difference  in  the  situation,  the 
ideas,  and  the  objects  of  these  new  readers, 
compared  with  those  of  the  various  other  classes 
of  readers  which  former  authors  have  had  in 
view.  It  is  for  this  reason,  and  with  this  view, 
that  the  present  series  of  historical  narratives  is 
presented  to  the  public.  The  author,  having 
had  some  opportunity  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  position,  the  ideas,  and  the  intellect- 
ual wants  of  those  whom  he  addresses,  presents 
the  result  of  his  labors  to  them,  with  the  hope 
that  it  may  be  found  successful  in  accomplish- 
ing its  design. 


CONTENTS, 


Chapter  Page 

I.    MARY'S    CHILDHOOD 13 

II.    HER    EDUCATION    IN    FRANCE 37 

III.  THE    GREAT   WEDDING 56 

IV.  MISFORTUNES 76 

V.    RETURN   TO    SCOTLAND 99 

VI.    MARY    AND    LORD    DARNLEY 124 

VII.    RIZZIO 147 

VIII.    BOTHWELL 168 

IX.    THE    FALL    OF    BOTHWELL 198 

X.    LOCH    LEVEN    CASTLE 218 

XI.    THE    LONG    CAPTIVITY 244 

XII.    THE   END 260 


ENGRAVINGS. 


Page 
DUMBARTON    CASTLE,    ON    THE    CLYDE. Frontispiece. 

MAP    OF    THE    CENTRAL    PART    OF    SCOTLAND. 

PLAN    OF    THE    PALACE    OF    LINLITHGOW 22 

VIEW    OF    THE    PALACE    OF  LINLITHGOW 25 

PORTRAIT    OF    QUEEN    ELIZABETH 91 

MART'S    EMBARKATION    AT    CALAIS 105 

VIEW    OF    THE    PALACE    OF    HOLTROOD    HOUSE. 114 

VIEW    OF    WEMYS    CASTLE 137 

PLAN    OF    HOLYROOD    HOUSE 160 

PRINCE    JAMES'S    CRADLE 174 

VIEW    OF    EDINBURGH 179 

PLAN  OF    THE    HOUSE  AT    THE    KIRK   O'   FIELD  . 182 

VIEW    OF    DUNBAR    CASTLE 193 

PLAN    OF    LOCH    LEVEN    CASTLE 221 

VIEW    OF    LOCH    LEVEN    CASTLE 236 

RUINS    OF    LOCH    LEVEN    CASTLE 241 

VIEW    OF    FOTHERINGAY 271 

MARY'S    TOMB    IN  WESTMINSTER    ABBEY 285 


MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS. 


Chapter    I. 

Mary's   Childhood. 


Palace  where  Mary  was  bom.  Its  situation. 

TRAVELERS  who  go  into  Scotland  take 
a  great  interest  in  visiting,  among  other 
places,  a  certain  room  in  the  ruins  of  an  old 
palace  where  Queen  Mary  was  born.  Queen 
Mary  was  very  beautiful,  but  she  was  very  un- 
fortunate and  unhappy.  Every  body  takes  a 
strong  interest  in  her  story,  and  this  interest 
attaches,  in  some  degree,  to  the  room  where 
her  sad  and  sorrowful  life  was  begun. 

The  palace  is  near  a  little  village  called  Lin- 
lithgow. The  village  has  but  one  long  street, 
which  consists  of  ancient  stone  houses.  North 
of  it  is  a  little  lake,  or  rather  pond :  they  call  it, 
in  Scotland,  a  loch.  The  palace  is  between  the 
village  and  the  loch  ;  it  is  upon  a  beautiful  swell 
of  land  which  projects  out  into  the  water.  There 
is  a  very  small  island  in  the  middle  of  the  loch, 
and  the  shores  are  bordered  with  fertile  fields. 


14 

Mary    Queen    of    Scots. 

[1542. 

Ruins. 

The  room. 

Visitors. 

The  palace,  when  entire,  was  square,  with  an 
open  space  or  court  in  the  center.  There  was 
a  beautiful  stone  fountain  in  the  center  of  this 
court,  and  an  arched  gateway  through  which 
horsemen  and  carriages  could  ride  in.  The  doors 
of  entrance  into  the  palace  were  on  the  inside  of 
the  court. 

The  palace  is  now  in  ruins.  A  troop  of  sol- 
diers came  to  it  one  day  in  time  of  war,  after 
Mary  and  her  mother  had  left  it,  and  spent  the 
night  there :  they  spread  straw  over  the  floors 
to  sleep  upon.  In  the  morning,  when  they  went 
away,  they  wantonly  set  the  straw  on  fire,  and 
left  it  burning,  and  thus  the  palace  was  destroy- 
ed. Some  of  the  lower  floors  were  of  stone ;  but 
all  the  upper  floors  and  the  roof  were  burned, 
and  all  the  wood-work  of  the  rooms,  and  the 
doors  and  window-frames.  Since  then  the  pal- 
ace has  never  been  repaired,  but  remains  a  mel- 
ancholy pile  of  ruins. 

The  room  where  Mary  was  born  had  a  stone 
floor.  The  rubbish  which  has  fallen  from  above 
has  covered  it  with  a  sort  of  soil,  and  grass  and 
weeds  grow  up  all  over  it.  It  is  a  very  melan- 
choly sight  to  see.  The  visitors  who  go  into  the 
room  walk  mournfully  about,  trying  to  imag- 
ine how  Queen  Mary  looked,  as  an  infant  in  her 


1542.]  Mary's    Childhood.  15 

Mary's  father  in  the  wars.  His  death 

mother's  arms,  and  reflecting  on  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  soldiers  in  wantonly  destroying  so 
beautiful  a  palace.  Then  they  go  to  the  win- 
dow, or,  rather,  to  the  crumbling  opening  in  the 
wall  where  the  window  once  was,  and  look  out 
upon  the  loch,  now  so  deserted  and  lonely ;  over 
their  heads  it  is  all  open  to  the  sky. 

Mary's  father  was  King  of  Scotland.  At  the 
time  that  Mary  was  born,  he  was  away  from 
home  engaged  in  war.  The  King  of  England 
had  invaded  Scotland,  and  the  battle  went 
against  Mary's  father,  and  he  thought  that  the 
generals  and  nobles  who  commanded  his  army 
allowed  the  English  to  conquer  them  on  purpose 
to  betray  him.  This  thought  overwhelmed  him 
with  vexation  and  anguish.  He  pined  away 
under  the  acuteness  of  his  sufferings,  and  just 
after  the  news  came  to  him  that  his  daughter 
Mary  was  born,  he  died.  Thus  Mary  became 
an  orphan,  and  her  troubles  commenced,  at  the 
very  beginning  of  her  days.  She  never  saw  her 
father,  and  her  father  never  saw  her.  Her 
mother  was  a  French  lady ;  her  name  was  Mary 
of  Guise.  Her  own  name  was  Mary  Stuart,  but 
she  is  commonly  called  M'ary  Queen  of  Scots. 

As  Mary  was  her  father's  only  child,  of  course, 
when  he  died,  she  became  Queen  of  Scotland, 


16  Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1542. 

Regency.  Catholic  religion.  The  Protestants. 

although  she  was  only  a  few  days  old.  It  is 
customary,  in  such  a  case,  to  appoint  some  dis- 
tinguished person  to  govern  the  kingdom,  in  the 
name  of  the  young  queen,  until  she  grows  up: 
such  a  person  is  called  a  regent.  Mary's  moth- 
er wished  to  be  the  regent  until  Mary  became 
of  age. 

It  happened  that  in  those  days,  as  now,  the 
government  and  people  of  France  were  of  the 
Catholic  religion.  England,  on  the  other  hand, 
was  Protestant.  There  is  a  great  difference 
between  the  Catholic  and  the  Protestant  sys- 
tems. The  Catholic  Church,  though  it  extends 
nearly  all  over  the  world,  is  banded  together, 
as  the  reader  is  aware,  under  one  man — the 
pope — who  is  the  great  head  of  the  Church, 
and  who  lives  in  state  at  Rome.  The  Catho- 
lics have,  in  all  countries,  many  large  and  splen- 
did churches,  which  are  ornamented  with  paint- 
ings and  images  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  of 
Christ.  They  perform  great  ceremonies  in  these 
churches,  the  priests  being  dressed  in  magnifi- 
cent costumes,  and  walking  in  processions,  with 
censers  of  incense  burning  as  they  go.  The 
Protestants,  on  the  other  hand,  do  not  like  these 
ceremonies ;  they  regard  such  outward  acts  of 
worship  as  mere  useless  parade,  and  the  images 


1543.]  Mary's    Childhood.  17 

England  and  France.  The  Earl  of  Arran. 

as  idols.  They  themselves  have  smaller  and 
plainer  churches,  and  call  the  people  together  in 
them  to  hear  sermons,  and  to  offer  up  simple 
prayers. 

In  the  time  of  Mary,  England  was  Protest- 
ant and  France  was  Catholic,  while  Scotland 
was  divided,  though  most  of  the  people  were 
Protestants.  The  two  parties  were  very  much 
excited  against  each  other,  and  often  persecuted 
each  other  with  extreme  cruelty.  Sometimes 
the  Protestants  would  break  into  the  Catholic 
churches,  and  tear  down  and  destroy  the  paint- 
ings and  the  images,  and  the  other  symbols  of 
worship,  all  which  the  Catholics  regarded  with 
extreme  veneration ;  this  exasperated  the  Cath- 
olics, and  when  they  became  powerful  in  their 
turn,  they  would  seize  the  Protestants  and  im- 
prison them,  and  sometimes  burn  them  to  death, 
by  tying  them  to  a  stake  and  piling  fagots  of 
wood  about  them,  and  then  setting  the  heap  on 
fire. 

Queen  Mary's  mother  was  a  Catholic,  and 
for  that  reason  the  people  of  Scotland  were  not 
willing  to  have  her  the  regent.  There  were 
one  or  two  other  persons  who  wished  to  be  re- 
gent also :  one  was  a  certain  nobleman  called 
the  Earl  of  Arran.  He  was  a  Protestant.  The 
2 


18  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1543. 

The  regency.  Arran  regent 

Earl  of  Arran  was  the  next  heir  to  the  crown, 
so  that  if  Mary  had  died  in  her  infancy,  he  would 
have  been  king.  He  thought  that  this  was  a 
reason  why  he  should  be  regent,  and  govern  the 
kingdom  until  Mary  became  old  enough  to  gov- 
ern it  herself.  Many  other  persons,  however, 
considered  this  rather  a  reason  why  he  should 
not  be  regent;  for  they  thought  he  would  be 
naturally  interested  in  wishing  that  Mary  should 
not  live,  since  if  she  died  he  would  himself  be- 
come king,  and  that  therefore  he  would  not  be 
a  safe  protector  for  her.  However,  as  the  Earl 
of  Arran  was  a  Protestant,  and  as  Mary's  moth- 
er was  a  Catholic,  and  as  the  Protestant  inter- 
est was  the  strongest,  it  was  at  length  decided 
that  Arran  should  be  the  regent,  and  govern  the 
country  until  Mary  should  be  of  age. 

It  is  a  curious  circumstance  that  Mary's  birth 
put  an  end  to  the  war  between  England  and 
Scotland,  and  that  in  a  very  singular  way.  The 
King  of  England  had  been  fighting  against  Ma- 
ry's father,  James,  for  a  long  time,  in  order  to 
conquer  the  country  and  annex  it  to  England ; 
and  now  that  James  was  dead,  and  Mary  had 
become  queen,  with  Arran  for  the  regent,  it  de- 
volved on  Arran  to  carry  on  the  war.  But  the 
King  of  England  and  his  government,  now  that 


1543.] 

Mary's    Childhood.                 19 

New  plan. 

End.  of  the  war.                         King  Henry  VIII. 

the  young  queen  was  born,  conceived  of  a  new 
plan.  "The  king  had  a  little  son,  named  Ed- 
ward, about  four  years  old,  who,  of  course,  would 
become  King  of  England  in  his  place  when  he 
should  himself  die.  Now  he  thought  it  would 
be  best  for  him  to  conclude  a  peace  with  Scot- 
land, and  agree  with  the  Scottish  government 
that,  as  soon  as  Mary  was  old  enough,  she  should 
become  Edward's  wife,  and  the  two  kingdoms 
be  united  in  that  way. 

The  name  of  this  King  of  England  was  Hen- 
ry the  Eighth.  He  was  a  very  headstrong  and 
determined  man.  This,  his  plan,  might  have 
been  a  very  good  one ;  it  was  certainly  much 
better  than  an  attempt  to  get  possession  of  Scot- 
land by  righting  for  it;  but  he  was  very  far 
from  being  as  moderate  and  just  as  he  should 
have  been  in  the  execution  of  his  design.  The 
first  thing  was  to  ascertain  whether  Mary  was 
a  strong  and  healthy  child;  for  if  he  should 
make  a  treaty  of  peace,  and  give  up  all  his 
plans  of  conquest,  and  then  if  Mary,  after  liv- 
ing feebly  a  few  years,  should  die,  all  his  plans 
would  fail.  To  satisfy  him  on  this  point,  they 
actually  had  some  of  the  infant's  clothes  re- 
moved in  the  presence  of  his  embassador,  in  or- 
der that  the  embassador  might  see  that  her  form 


20  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1543. 

Janet  Sinclair.  King  Henry's  demands. 

was  perfect,  and  her  limbs  vigorous  and  strong. 
The  nurse  did  this  with  great  pride  and  pleas- 
ure, Mary's  mother  standing  by.  The  nurse's 
name  was  Janet  Sinclair.  The  embassador 
wrote  back  to  Henry,  the  King  of  England,  that 
little  Mary  was  "  as  goodly  a  child  as  he  ever 
saw."  So  King  Henry  VIII.  was  confirmed  in 
his  design  of  having  her  for  the  wife  of  his  son. 

King  Henry  VIII.  accordingly  changed  all  his 
plans.  He  made  a  peace  with  the  Earl  of  Ar- 
ran.  He  dismissed  the  prisoners  that  he  had 
taken,  and  sent  them  home  kindly.  If  he  had 
been  contented  with  kind  and  gentle  measures 
like  these,  he  might  have  succeeded  in  them,  al- 
though there  was,  of  course,  a  strong  party  in 
Scotland  opposed  to  them.  Mary's  mother  was 
opposed  to  them,  for  she  was  a  Catholic  and  a 
French  lady,  and  she  wanted  to  have  her  daugh- 
ter become  a  Catholic  as  she  grew  up,  and  mar- 
ry a  French  prince.  All  the  Catholics  in  Scot- 
land took  her  side.  Still  Henry's  plans  might 
have  been  accomplished,  perhaps,  if  he  had  been 
moderate  and  conciliating  in  the  efforts  which 
he  made  to  carry  them  into  effect. 

But  Henry  VIII.  was  headstrong  and  obsti- 
nate. He  demanded  that  Mary,  since  she  was 
to  be  his  son's  wife,  should  be  given  up  to  him 


1543.]  Mary's    Childhood.  21 

Objections  to  them.  Plans  for  Mary. 

to  be  taken  into  England,  and  educated  there, 
under  the  care  of  persons  whom  he  should  ap- 
point. He  also  demanded  that  the  Parliament 
of  Scotland  should  let  him  have  a  large  share 
in  the  government  of  Scotland,  because  he  was 
going  to  be  the  father-in-law  of  the  young  queen. 
The  Parliament  would  not  agree  to  either  of 
these  plans  ;  they  were  entirely  unwilling  to  al- 
low their  little  queen  to  be  carried  off  to  another 
country,  and  put  under  the  charge  of  so  rough 
and  rude  a  man.  Then  they  were  unwilling, 
too,  to  give  him  any  share  of  the  government 
during  Mary's  minority.  Both  these  measures 
were  entirely  inadmissible  ;  they  would,  if 
adopted,  have  put  both  the  infant  Queen  of 
Scotland  and  the  kingdom  itself  completely  in 
the  power  of  one  who  had  always  been  their 
greatest  enemy. 

Henry,  finding  that  he  could  not  induce  the 
Scotch  government  to  accede  to  these  plans, 
gave  them  up  at  last,  and  made  a  treaty  of 
marriage  between  his  son  and  Mary,  with  the 
agreement  that  she  might  remain  in  Scotland 
until  she  was  ten  years  old,  and  that  then  she 
should  come  to  England  and  be  under  his  care. 

All  this  time,  while  these  grand  negotiations 
were  pending  between  two  mighty  nations  about 


22 


Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1543 


Linlithgow. 


Plan  of  the  palace. 


her  marriage,  little  Mary  was  unconscious  of  it 
all,  sometimes  reposing  quietly  in  Janet  Sin- 
clair's arms,  sometimes  looking  out  of  the  win- 
dows of  the  Castle  of  Linlithgow  to  see  the 
swans  swim  upon  the  lake,  and  sometimes,  per- 
haps, creeping  about  upon  the  palace  floor,  where 
the  earls  and  barons  who  came  to  visit  her  moth- 
er, clad  in  armor  of  steel,  looked  upon  her  with 
pride  and  pleasure.  The  palace  where  she  lived 
was  beautifully  situated,  as  has  been  before  re- 
marked, on  the  borders  of  a  lake.  It  was  ar- 
ranged somewhat  in  the  following  manner : 
Plan  of  the  Palace  of  Linlithgow. 


Church-yard. 


a.  Room  where  Mary  was  born.  e.  Entrance  through  great  gates. 
w.  Bow-window  projecting  toward  the  water,  d.  Den  where  they  kept 
a  lion.    1. 1.  Trees. 


1543.]  Mary's    Childhood.  23 

Fountain.  The  lion's  den. 

There  was  a  beautiful  fountain  in  the  center 
of  the  court-yard,  where  water  spouted  out  from 
the  mouths  of  carved  images,  and  fell  into  mar- 
ble basins  below.  The  ruins  of  this  fountain 
and  of  the  images  remain  there  still.  The  den 
at  d  was  a  round  pit,  like  a  well,  which  you 
could  look  down  into  from  above :  it  was  about 
ten  feet  deep.  They  used  to  keep  lions  in  such 
dens  near  the  palaces  and  castles  in  those  days. 
A  lion  in  a  den  was  a  sort  of  plaything  in  form- 
er times,  as  a  parrot  or  a  pet  lamb  is  now :  this 
was  in  keeping  with  the  fierce  and  warlike  spirit 
of  the  age.  If  they  had  a  lion  there  in  Mary's 
time,  Janet  often,  doubtless,  took  her  little  charge 
out  to  see  it,  and  let  her  throw  down  food  to  it 
from  above.  The  den  is  there  now.  You  ap- 
proach it  upon  the  top  of  a  broad  embankment, 
which  is  as  high  as  the  depth  of  the  den,  so 
that  the  bottom  of  the  den  is  level  with  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground,  which  makes  it  always  dry. 
There  is  a  hole,  too,  at  the  bottom,  through  the 
wall,  where  they  used  to  put  the  lion  in. 

The  foregoing  plan  of  the  buildings  and 
grounds  of  Linlithgow  is  drawn  as  maps  and 
plans  usually  are,  the  upper  part  toward  the 
north.  Of  course  the  room  a,  where  Mary  was 
born,  is  on  the  western  side.     The  adjoining 


24  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.    [1543 

Explanation  of  the  engraving.  The  coronation. 

engraving  represents  a  view  of  the  palace  on 
this  western  side.  The  church  is  seen  at  the 
right,  and  the  lawn,  where  Janet  used  to  take 
Mary  out  to  breathe  the  air,  is  in  the  foreground. 
The  shore  of  the  lake  is  very  near,  and  winds 
beautifully  around  the  margin  of  the  promonto- 
ry on  which  the  palace  stands.  Of  course  the 
lion's  den,  and  the  ancient  avenue  of  approach 
to  the  palace,  are  round  upon  the  other  side,  and 
out  of  sight  in  this  view.  The  approach  to  the 
palace,  at  the  present  day,  is  on  the  southern 
side,  between  the  church  and  the  trees  on  the 
right  of  the  picture. 

Mary  remained  here  at  Linlithgow  for  a  year 
or  two ;  but  when  she  was  about  nine  months 
old,  they  concluded  to  have  the  great  ceremony 
of  the  coronation  performed,  as  she  was  by  that 
time  old  enough  to  bear  the  journey  to  Stirling 
Castle,  where  the  Scottish  kings  and  queens 
were  generally  crowned.  The  coronation  of  a 
queen  is  an  event  which  always  excites  a  very 
deep  and  universal  interest  among  all  persons 
in  the  realm;  and  there  is  a  peculiar  interest 
felt  when,  as  was  the  case  in  this  instance,  the 
queen  to  be  crowned  is  an  infant  just  old  enough 
to  bear  the  journey.  There  was  a  very  great 
interest  felt  in  Mary's  coronation.     The  differ- 


1543.] 

Mary's    Childhood. 

27 

Stirling  Castle. 

Its  situation. 

Rocky  hill. 

ent  courts  and  monarchs  of  Europe  sent  embas- 
sadors to  be  present  at  the  ceremony,  and  to 
pay  their  respects  to  the  infant  queen ;  and  Stir- 
ling became,  for  the  time  being,  the  center  of 
universal  attraction. 

Stirling  is  in  the  very  heart  of  Scotland.  It 
is  a  castle,  built  upon  a  rock,  or,  rather,  upon  a 
rocky  hill,  which  rises  like  an  island  out  of  the 
midst  of  a  vast  region  of  beautiful  and  fertile 
country,  rich  and  verdant  beyond  description. 
Beyond  the  confines  of  this  region  of  beauty, 
dark  mountains  rise  on  all  sides ;  and  wherever 
you  are,  whether  riding  along  the  roads  in  the 
plain,  or  climbing  the  declivities  of  the  mount- 
ains, you  see  Stirling  Castle,  from  every  point, 
capping  its  rocky  hill,  the  center  and  ornament 
of  the  broad  expanse  of  beauty  which  sur- 
rounds it. 

Stirling  Castle  is  north  of  Linlithgow,  and  is 
distant  about  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  from  it. 
The  road  to  it  lies  not  far  from  the  shores  of  the 
Firth  of  Forth,  a  broad  and  beautiful  sheet  of 
water.  The  castle,  as  has  been  before  remarked, 
was  on  the  summit  of  a  rocky  hill.  There  are 
precipitous  crags  on  three  sides  of  the  hill,  and  a 
gradual  approach  by  a  long  ascent  on  the  fourth 
side.     At  the  top  of  this  ascent  you  enter  the 


28  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1545. 

The  coronation  scene.  Linlithgow  and  Stirling. 

great  gates  of  the  castle,  crossing  a  broad  and 
deep  ditch  by  means  of  a  draw-bridge.  You 
enter  then  a  series  of  paved  courts,  with  tow- 
ers and  walls  around  them,  and  finally  come 
to  the  more  interior  edifices,  where  the  private 
apartments  are  situated,  and  where  the  little 
queen  was  crowned. 

It  was  an  occasion  of  great  pomp  and  cere- 
mony, though  Mary,  of  course,  was  unconscious 
of  the  meaning  of  it  all.  She  was  surrounded 
by  barons  and  earls,  by  embassadors  and  prin- 
ces from  foreign  courts,  and  by  the  principal 
lords  and  ladies  of  the  Scottish  nobility,  all 
dressed  in  magnificent  costumes.  They  held 
little  Mary  up,  and  a  cardinal,  that  is,  a  great 
dignitary  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  plac- 
ed the  crown  upon  her  head.  Half  pleased  with 
the  glittering  show,  and  half  frightened  at  the 
strange  faces  which  she  saw  every  where  around 
her,  she  gazed  unconsciously  upon  the  scene, 
while  her  mother,  who  could  better  understand 
its  import,  was  filled  with  pride  and  joy. 

Linlithgow  and  Stirling  are  in  the  open  and 
cultivated  part  of  Scotland.  All  the  northern 
and  western  part  of  the  country  consists  of  vast 
masses  of  mountains,  with  dark  and  somber 
glens  among  them,  which  are  occupied  solely 


1545.]  Mary's   Childhood.  29 

The  Highlands  and  the  Highlanders.  Religious  disturbances. 

by  shepherds  and  herdsmen  with  their  flocks 
and  herds.  This  mountainous  region  was  call- 
ed the  Highlands,  and  the  inhabitants  of  it  were 
the  Highlanders.  They  were  a  wild  and  war- 
like class  of  men,  and  their  country  was  seldom 
visited  by  either  friend  or  foe.  At  the  present 
time  there  are  beautiful  roads  all  through  the 
Highlands,  and  stage-coaches  and  private  car- 
riages roll  over  them  every  summer,  to  take 
tourists  to  see  and  admire  the  picturesque  and 
beautiful  scenery ;  but  in  the  days  of  Mary  the 
whole  region  was  gloomy  and  desolate,  and  al- 
most inaccessible. 

Mary  remained  in  Linlithgow  and  Stirling 
for  about  two  years,  and  then,  as  the  country 
was  becoming  more  and  more  disturbed  by  the 
struggles  of  the  great  contending  parties — those 
who  were  in  favor  of  the  Catholic  religion  and 
alliance  with  France  on  the  one  hand,  and  of 
those  in  favor  of  the  Protestant  religion  and  al- 
liance with  England  on  the  other  hand — they 
concluded  to  send  her  into  the  Highlands  for 
safety. 

It  was  not  far  into  the  country  of  the  High- 
lands that  they  concluded  to  send  her,  but  only 
into  the  borders  of  it.  There  was  a  small  lake 
on  the  southern  margin  of  the  wild  and  mount- 


30  Mary  Queen    of    Scots.     [1546. 

Lake  Menteith.  Mary's  companions.  The  four  Maries. 

ainous  country,  called  the  Lake  of  Menteith. 
In  this  lake  was  an  island  named  Inchmahome, 
the  word  inch  being  the  name  for  island  in  the 
language  spoken  by  the  Highlanders.  This  isl- 
and, which  was  situated  in  a  very  secluded  and 
solitary  region,  was  selected  as  Mary's  place  of 
residence.  She  was  about  four  years  old  when 
they  sent  her  to  this  place.  Several  persons 
went  with  her  to  take  care  of  her,  and  to  teach 
her.  In  fact,  every  thing  was  provided  for  her 
which  could  secure  her  improvement  and  hap- 
piness. Her  mother  did  not  forget  that  she 
would  need  playmates,  and  so  she  selected  four 
little  girls  of  about  the  same  age  with  the  little 
queen  herself,  and  invited  them  to  accompany 
her.  They  were  daughters  of  the  noblemen 
and  high  officers  about  the  court.  It  is  very 
curious  that  these  girls  were  all  named  Mary. 
Their  names  in  full  were  as  follows : 

Mary  Beaton, 

Mary  Fleming, 

Mary  Livingstone, 

Mary  Seaton. 
These,  with  Mary  Stuart,  which  was  Queen 
Mary's  name,  made  five  girls  of  four  or  five 
years  of  age,  all  named  Mary. 

Mary  lived  two  years  in  this  solitary  island. 


1546.]  Mary's    Childhood.  31 

Angry  disputes.  Change  of  plan.  Henry's  anger. 

She  had,  however,  all  the  comforts  and  conven- 
iences of  life,  and  enjoyed  herself  with  her  four 
Maries  very  much.  Of  course  she  knew  noth- 
ing, and  thought  nothing  of  the  schemes  and 
plans  of  the  great  governments  for  having  her 
married,  when  she  grew  up,  to  the  young  En- 
glish prince,  who  was  then  a  little  boy  of  about 
her  own  age,  nor  of  the  angry  disputes  in 
Scotland  to  which  this  subject  gave  rise.  It 
did  give  rise  to  very  serious  disputes.  Mary's 
mother  did  not  like  the  plan  at  all.  As  she 
was  herself  a  French  lady  and  a  Catholic,  she 
did  not  wish  to  have  her  daughter  marry  a 
prince  who  was  of  the  English  royal  family, 
and  a  Protestant.  All  the  Catholics  in  Scot- 
land took  her  side.  At  length  the  Earl  of  Ar- 
ran,  who  was  the  regent,  changed  to  that  side  ; 
and  finally  the  government,  being  thus  brought 
over,  gave  notice  to  King  Henry  VIII.  that  the 
plan  must  be  given  up,  as  they  had  concluded, 
on  the  whole,  that  Mary  should  not  marry  his 
son. 

King  Henry  was  very  much  incensed.  He 
declared  that  Mary  should  marry  his  son,  and 
he  raised  an  army  and  sent  it  into  Scotland  to 
make  war  upon  the  Scotch  again,  and  compel 
them  to  consent  to  the  execution  of  the  plan. 


32  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.      [1546. 

Henry's  sickness  and  death.  War  renewed. 

He  was  at  this  time  beginning  to  be  sick,  but 
his  sickness,  instead  of  softening  his  temper, 
only  made  him  the  more  ferocious  and  cruel. 
He  turned  against  his  best  friends.  He  grew 
worse,  and  was  evidently  about  to  die ;  but  he 
was  so  irritable  and  angry  that  for  a  long  time 
no  one  dared  to  tell  him  of  his  approaching  dis- 
solution, and  he  lay  restless,  and  wretched,  and 
agitated  with  political  animosities  upon  his  dy- 
ing bed.  At  length  some  one  ventured  to  tell 
him  that  his  end  was  near.  When  he  found 
that  he  must  die,  he  resigned  himself  to  his  fate. 
He  sent  for  an  archbishop  to  come  and  see  him, 
but  he  was  speechless  when  the  prelate  came, 
and  soon  afterward  expired. 

The  English  government,  however,  after  his 
death,  adhered  to  his  plan  of  compelling  the 
Scotch  to  make  Mary  the  wife  of  his  son.  They 
sent  an  army  into  Scotland.  A  great  battle 
was  fought,  and  the  Scotch  were  defeated.  The 
battle  was  fought  at  a  place  not  far  from  Edin- 
burgh, and  near  the  sea.  It  was  so  near  the 
sea  that  the  English  fired  upon  the  Scotch  army 
from  their  ships,  and  thus  assisted  their  troops 
upon  the  shore.  The  armies  had  remained  sev- 
eral days  near  each  other  before  coming  to  bat* 
tie,  and  during  all  this  time  the  city  of  Edin- 


1548.]  Mary's   Childhood.  33 

Danger  in  Edinburgh.  Aid  from  France.  New  plan. 

burgh  was  in  a  state  of  great  anxiety  and  sus- 
pense, as  they  expected  that  their  city  would 
be  attacked  by  the  English  if  they  should  con- 
quer in  the  battle.  The  English  army  did,  in 
fact,  advance  toward  Edinburgh  after  the  bat- 
tle was  over,  and  would  have  got  possession  of 
it  had  it  not  been  for  the  castle.  There  is  a 
very  strong  castle  in  the  very  heart  of  Edin- 
burgh, upon  the  summit  of  a  rocky  hill.# 

These  attempts  of  the  English  to  force  the 
Scotch  government  to  consent  to  Mary's  mar- 
riage only  made  them  the  more  determined  to 
prevent  it.  A  great  many  who  were  not  op- 
posed to  it  before,  became  opposed  to  it  now, 
when  they  saw  foreign  armies  in  the  country 
destroying  the  towns  and  murdering  the  people. 
They  said  they  had  no  great  objection  to  the 
match,  but  that  they  did  not  like  the  mode  of 
wooing.  They  sent  to  France  to  ask  the  French 
king  to  send  over  an  army  to  aid  them,  and 
promised  him  that  if  he  would  do  so  they  would 
agree  that  Mary  should  marry  his  son.  His 
son's  name  was  Francis. 

The  French  king  was  very  much  pleased 
with  this  plan.  He  sent  an  army  of  six  thou- 
sand men  into  Scotland  to  assist  the  Scotch 

*  See  the  view  of  Edinburgh,  page  179. 
3 


34  Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1548. 

Going  to  France.  Dumbarton  Castle.  Rock  of  Dumbarton. 

against  their  English  enemies.  It  was  arrang- 
ed, also,  as  little  Mary  was  now  hardly  safe 
among  all  these  commotions,  even  in  her  re- 
treat in  the  island  of  Inchmahome,  to  send  her 
to  France  to  be  educated  there,  and  to  live  there 
until  she  was  old  enough  to  be  married.  The 
same  ships  which  brought  the  army  from  France 
to  Scotland,  were  to  carry  Mary  and  her  reti- 
nue from  Scotland  to  France.  The  four  Maries 
went  with  her. 

They  bade  their  lonely  island  farewell,  and 
traveled  south  till  they  came  to  a  strong  castle 
on  a  high,  rocky  hill,  on  the  banks  of  the  River 
Clyde.  The  name  of  this  fortress  is  Dumbar- 
ton Castle.  Almost  all  the  castles  of  those 
times  were  built  upon  precipitous  hills,  to  in- 
crease the  difficulties  of  the  enemies  in  ap- 
proaching them.  The  Rock  of  Dumbarton  is  a 
very  remarkable  one.  It  stands  close  to  the 
bank  of  the  river.  There  are  a  great  many 
ships  and  steam-boats  continually  passing  up 
and  down  the  Clyde,  to  and  from  the  great  city 
of  Glasgow,  and  all  the  passengers  on  board 
gaze  with  great  interest,  as  they  sail  by,  on  the 
Rock  of  Dumbarton,  with  the  castle  walls  on 
the  sides,  and  the  towers  and  battlements  crown- 
ing the  summit.*     In  Mary's  time  there  was 

*  See  Frontispiece. 


1548.]  Mary's    Childhood.  35 

Journey  to  Dumbarton.  Tourists.  River  Clyde. 

comparatively  very  little  shipping  on  the  river , 
but  the  French  fleet  was  there,  waiting  oppo- 
site the  castle  to  receive  Mary  and  the  numer- 
ous persons  who  were  to  go  in  her  train.# 

Mary  was  escorted  from  the  island  where  she 
had  been  living,  across  the  country  to  Dumbar- 
ton Castle,  with  a  strong  retinue.  She  was 
now  between  five  and  six  years  of  age.  She 
was,  of  course,  too  young  to  know  any  thing 
about  the  contentions  and  wars  which  had  dis- 
tracted her  country  on  her  account,  or  to  feel 

*  Travelers  who  visit  Scotland  from  this  country  at  the 
present  day,  usually  land  first,  at  the  close  of  the  voyage 
across  the  Atlantic,  at  Liverpool,  and  there  take  a  Glasgow 
steamer.  Glasgow,  which  is  the  great  commercial  city  of 
Scotland,  is  on  the  River  Clyde.  This  river  flows  northwest 
to  the  sea.  The  steamer,  in  ascending  the  river,  makes  its 
way  with  difficulty  along  the  narrow  channel,  which,  be- 
sides being  narrow  and  tortuous,  is  obstructed  by  boats,  ships, 
steamers,  and  every  other  variety  of  water-craft,  such  as  are 
always  going  to  and  fro  in  the  neighborhood  of  any  great 
commercial  emporium. 

The  tourists,  who  stand  upon  the  deck  gazing  at  this  excit- 
ing scene  of  life  and  motion,  have  their  attention  strongly  at- 
tracted, about  half  way  up  the  river,  by  this  Castle  of  Dum- 
barton, which  crowns  a  rocky  hill,  rising  abruptly  from  the 
water's  edge,  on  the  north  side  of  the  stream.  It  attracts 
sometimes  the  more  attention  from  American  travelers,  on  ac- 
count of  its  being  the  first  ancient  castle  they  see.  This  is 
likely  to  be  the  case  if  they  proceed  to  Scotland  immediately 
on  landing  at  Liverpool. 


36  Mary   Queen    of   Scots.     [1548. 

The  four  Maries.  Departure  from  Scotland. 

much  interest  in  the  subject  of  her  approaching 
departure  from  her  native  land.  She  enjoyed 
the  novelty  of  the  scenes  through  which  she 
passed  on  her  journey.  She  was  pleased  with 
the  dresses  and  the  arms  of  the  soldiers  who  ac- 
companied her,  and  with  the  ships  which  were 
floating  in  the  river,  beneath  the  walls  of  the 
Castle  of  Dumbarton,  when  she  arrived  there. 
She  was  pleased,  too,  to  think  that,  wherever 
she  was  to  go,  her  four  Maries  were  to  go  with 
her.  She  bade  her  mother  farewell,  embarked 
on  board  the  ship  which  was  to  receive  her,  and 
sailed  away  from  her  native  land,  not  to  return 
to  it  again  for  many  years. 


1548.]  Her    Education    in    France.    37 

Departure.  Stormy  voyage. 


Chapter  II. 
Her  Education  in  France. 

fTlHE  departure  of  Mary  from  Scotland,  lit- 
■*-  tie  as  she  was,  was  a  great  event  both  for 
Scotland  and  for  France.  In  those  days  kings 
and  queens  were  even  of  greater  relative  im- 
portance than  they  are  now,  and  all  Scotland 
was  interested  in  the  young  queen's  going 
away  from  them,  and  all  France  in  expecting 
her  arrival.  She  sailed  down  the  Clyde,  and 
then  passed  along  the  seas  and  channels  which 
lie  between  England  and  Ireland.  These  seas, 
though  they  look  small  upon  the  map,  are  real- 
ly spacious  and  wide,  and  are  often  greatly  agi- 
tated by  winds  and  storms.  This  was  the  case 
at  the  time  Mary  made  her  voyage.  The  days 
and  nights  were  tempestuous  and  wild,  and  the 
ships  had  difficulty  in  keeping  in  each  other's 
company.  There  was  danger  of  being  blown 
upon  the  coasts,  or  upon  the  rocks  or  islands 
which  lie  in  the  way.  Mary  was  too  young  to 
give  much  heed  to  these  dangers,  but  the  lords 
and  commissioners,  and  the  great  ladies  who 


38  Mary   Queen    of   Scots.     [1548. 

Journey  to  Paris.  Release  of  prisoners. 

went  to  attend  her,  were  heartily  glad  when  the 
voyage  was  over.  It  ended  safely  at  last,  after 
several  days  of  tossing  upon  the  stormy  billows, 
by  their  arrival  upon  the  northern  coast  of 
France.  They  landed  at  a  town  called  Brest. 
The  King  of  France  had  made  great  prepara- 
tions for  receiving  the  young  queen  immediate- 
ly upon  her  landing.  Carriages  and  horses  had 
been  provided  to  convey  herself  and  the  com- 
pany of  her  attendants,  by  easy  journeys,  to 
Paris.  They  received  her  with  great  pomp 
and  ceremony  at  every  town  which  she  passed 
through.  One  mark  of  respect  which  they 
showed  her  was  very  singular.  The  king  or- 
dered that  every  prison  which  she  passed  in  her 
route  should  be  thrown  open,  and  the  prisoners 
set  free.  This  fact  is  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  different  ideas  which  prevailed  in  those 
days,  compared  with  those  which  are  enter- 
tained now,  in  respect  to  crime  and  punish- 
ment. Crime  is  now  considered  as  an  offense 
against  the  community,  and  it  would  be  con- 
sidered no  favor  to  the  community,  but  the  re- 
verse, to  let  imprisoned  criminals  go  free.  In 
those  days,  on  the  other  hand,  crimes  were  con- 
sidered rather  as  injuries  committed  by  the 
community,  and  against  the  king ;  so  that,  if 


1548.]  Her    Education   in    France.    39 

Barabbas.  St.  Germain.  Celebrations. 

the  monarch  wished  to  show  the  community  a 
favor,  he  would  do  it  by  releasing  such  of  them 
as  had  been  imprisoned  by  his  officers  for  their 
crimes.  It  was  just  so  in  the  time  of  our  Sa- 
vior, when  the  Jews  had  a  custom  of  having 
some  criminal  released  to  them  once  a  year,  at 
the  Passover,  by  the  Roman  government,  as  an 
act  of  favor.  That  is,  the  government  was  ac- 
customed to  furnish,  by  way  of  contributing  its 
share  toward  the  general  festivities  of  the  occa- 
sion, the  setting  of  a  robber  and  a  murderer  at 
liberty ! 

The  King  of  France  has  several  palaces  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Paris.  Mary  was  taken  to 
one  of  them,  named  St.  Germain.  This  pal- 
ace, which  still  stands,  is  about  twelve  miles 
from  Paris,  toward  the  northwest.  It  is  a  very 
magnificent  residence,  and  has  been  for  many 
centuries  a  favorite  resort  of  the  French  kings. 
Many  of  them  were  born  in  it.  There  are  ex- 
tensive parks  and  gardens  connected  with  it, 
and  a  great  artificial  forest,  in  which  the  trees 
were  all  planted  and  cultivated  like  the  trees 
of  an  orchard.  Mary  was  received  at  this  pal- 
ace with  great  pomp  and  parade ;  and  many 
spectacles  and  festivities  were  arranged  to  amuse 
her  and  the  four  Maries  who  accompanied  her, 


40  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1549. 

The  convent.  Character  of  the  nuns. 

and  to  impress  her  strongly  with  an  idea  of  the 
wealth,  and  power,  and  splendor  of  the  great 
country  to  which  she  had  come. 

She  remained  here  but  a  short  time,  and  then 
it  was  arranged  for  her  to  go  to  a  convent  to  be 
educated.  Convents  were  in  those  days,  as  in 
fact  they  are  now,  quite  famous  as  places  of 
education.  They  were  situated  sometimes  in 
large  towns,  and  sometimes  in  secluded  places 
in  the  country ;  but,  whether  in  town  or  coun- 
try, the  inmates  of  them  were  shut  up  very 
strictly  from  all  intercourse  with  the  world. 
They  were  under  the  care  of  nuns  who  had  de- 
voted themselves  for  life  to  the  service.  These 
nuns  were  some  of  them  unhappy  persons,  who 
were  weary  of  the  sorrows  and  sufferings  of  the 
world,  and  who  were  glad  to  retire  from  it  to 
such  a  retreat  as  they  fancied  the  convent  would 
be.  Others  became  nuns  from  conscientious 
principles  of  duty,  thinking  that  they  should 
commend  themselves  to  the  favor  of  God  by 
devoting  their  lives  to  works  of  benevolence 
and  to  the  exercises  of  religion.  Of  course  there 
were  all  varieties  of  character  among  the  nuns; 
some  of  them  were  selfish  and  disagreeable, 
others  were  benevolent  and  kind. 

At  the  convent  where  Marv  was  sent  there 


1550.]  Her  Education  in  France.     41 

Interest  in  Mary.  Leaving  the  convent. 

were  some  nuns  of  very  excellent  and  amiable 
character,  and  they  took  a  great  interest  in 
Mary,  both  because  she  was  a  queen,  and  be- 
cause she  was  beautiful,  and  of  a  kind  and 
affectionate  disposition.  Mary  became  very 
strongly  attached  to  these  nuns,  and  began  to 
entertain  the  idea  of  becoming  a  nun  herself, 
and  spending  her  life  with  them  in  the  con- 
vent. It  seemed  pleasant  to  her  to  live  there 
in  such  a  peaceful  seclusion,  in  company  with 
those  who  loved  her,  and  whom  she  herself  loved ; 
but  the  King  of  France,  and  the  Scottish  no- 
bles who  had  come  with  her  from  Scotland, 
would,  of  course,  be  opposed  to  any  such  plan. 
They  wanted  her  to  be  married  to  the  young 
prince,  and  to  become  one  of  the  great  ladies 
of  the  court,  and  to  lead  a  life  of  magnificence 
and  splendor.  They  became  alarmed,  there- 
fore, when  they  found  that  she  was  imbibing  a 
taste  for  the  life  of  seclusion  and  solitude  which 
is  led  by  a  nun.  They  decided  to  take  her  im- 
mediately away. 

Mary  bade  farewell  to  the  convent  and  its  in- 
mates with  much  regret  and  many  tears ;  but, 
notwithstanding  her  reluctance,  she  was  obliged 
to  submit.  If  she  had  not  been  a  queen,  she 
might,  perhaps,  have  had  her  own  way.     As  it 


42  Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1550 

Amusements.  Visit  of  Mary's  mother 

was,  however,  she  was  obliged  to  leave  the  con- 
vent and  the  nuns  whom  she  loved,  and  to  go 
back  to  the  palaces  of  the  king,  in  which  she 
afterward  continued  to  live,  sometimes  in  one 
and  sometimes  in  another,  for  many  years. 
Wherever  she  went,  she  was  surrounded  with 
scenes  of  great  gayety  and  splendor.  They 
wanted  to  obliterate  from  her  mind  all  recollec- 
tions of  the  convent,  and  all  love  of  solitude 
and  seclusion.  They  did  not  neglect  her  stud- 
ies, but  they  filled  up  the  intervals  of  study  with 
all  possible  schemes  of  enjoyment  and  pleasure, 
to  amuse  and  occupy  her  mind  and  the  minds 
of  her  companions.  Her  companions  were  her 
own  four  Maries,  and  the  two  daughters  of  the 
French  king. 

When  Mary  was  about  seven  years  of  age, 
that  is,  after  she  had  been  two  years  in  France, 
her  mother  formed  a  plan  to  come  from  Scot- 
land to  see  her.  Her  mother  had  remained  be- 
hind when  Mary  left  Scotland,  as  she  had  an 
important  part  to  perform  in  public  affairs,  and 
in  the  administration  of  the  government  of  Scot- 
land while  Mary  was  away.  She  wanted,  how- 
ever, to  come  and  see  her.  France,  too,  was 
her  own  native  land,  and  all  her  relations  and 
friends  resided  there.     She  wished  to  see  them 


1550.]  Her   Education  in   France.     43 

Queen  dowager.  Rouen.  A  happy  meeting. 

as  well  as  Mary,  and  to  revisit  once  more  the 
palaces  and  cities  where  her  own  early  life  had 
been  spent.  In  speaking  of  Mary's  mother  we 
shall  call  her  sometimes  the  queen  dowager. 
The  expression  queen  dowager  is  the  one  usu- 
ally applied  to  the  widow  of  a  king,  as  queen 
consort  is  used  to  denote  the  wife  of  a  king. 

This  visit  of  the  queen  dowager  of  Scotland 
to  her  little  daughter  in  France  was  an  event 
of  great  consequence,  and  all  the  arrangements 
for  carrying  it  into  effect  were  conducted  with 
great  pomp  and  ceremony.  A  large  company 
attended  her,  with  many  of  the  Scottish  lords 
and  ladies  among  them.  The  King  of  France, 
too,  went  from  Paris  toward  the  French  coast, 
to  meet  the  party  of  visitors,  taking  little  Mary 
and  a  large  company  of  attendants  with  him. 
They  went  to  Rouen,  a  large  city  not  far  from 
the  coast,  where  they  awaited  the  arrival  of 
Mary's  mother,  and  where  they  received  her 
with  great  ceremonies  of  parade  and  rejoicing. 
The  queen  regent  was  very  much  delighted  to 
see  her  little  daughter  again.  She  had  grown 
two  years  older,  and  had  improved  greatly  in 
every  respect,  and  tears  of  joy  came  into  her 
mother's  eyes  as  she  clasped  her  in  her  arms. 
The  two  parties  journeyed  in  company  to  Pariss 


44  Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1550 

Rejoicings.  A  last  farewell.  <    Visit  to  a  mourner. 

and  entered  the  city  with  great  rejoicings.  The 
two  queens,  mother  and  daughter,  were  the  ob- 
j  ects  of  universal  interest  and  attention.  Feasts 
and  celebrations  without  end  were  arranged  for 
them,  and  every  possible  means  of  amusement 
and  rejoicing  were  contrived  in  the  palaces  of 
Paris,  of  St.  Germain's,  and  of  Fontainebleau. 
Mary's  mother  remained  in  France  about  a 
year.  She  then  bade  Mary  farewell,  leaving 
her  at  Fontainebleau.  This  proved  to  be  a  final 
farewell,  for  she  never  saw  her  again. 

After  taking  leave  of  her  daughter,  the  queen 
dowager  went,  before  leaving  France,  to  see  her 
own  mother,  who  was  a  widow,  and  who  was 
living  at  a  considerable  distance  from  Paris  in 
seclusion,  and  in  a  state  of  austere  and  melan- 
choly grief,  on  account  of  the  loss  of  her  hus- 
band. Instead  of  forgetting  her  sorrows,  as  she 
ought  to  have  done,  and  returning  calmly  and 
peacefully  to  the  duties  and  enjoyments  of  life, 
she  had  given  herself  up  to  inconsolable  grief, 
and  was  doing  all  she  could  to  perpetuate  its 
mournful  influence  upon  her  mind.  She  lived 
in  an  ancient  and  gloomy  mansion,  of  vast  size, 
and  she  had  hung  all  the  apartments  in  black, 
to  make  it  still  more  desolate  and  gloomy,  and 
to  continue  the  influence  of  grief  upon  her  mind. 


1550.]  Her   Education  in  France.     45 

The  queen  dowager's  return.  The  regency. 

Here  the  queen  dowager  found  her,  spending 
her  time  in  prayers  and  austerities  of  every 
kind,  making  herself  and  all  her  family  perfect- 
ly miserable.  Many  persons,  at  the  present  day, 
act,  under  such  circumstances,  on  the  same  prin- 
ciple, and  with  the  same  spirit,  though  they  do 
not  manifest  it  in  precisely  the  same  way. 

One  would  suppose  that  Mary's  mother  would 
have  preferred  to  remain  in  France  with  her 
daughter  and  her  mother,  and  all  her  family 
friends,  instead  of  going  back  to  Scotland,  where 
she  was,  as  it  were,  a  foreigner  and  a  stranger. 
The  reason  why  she  wanted  to  go  back  was, 
that  she  wished  to  be  made  queen  regent,  and 
thus  have  the  government  of  Scotland  in  her 
own  hands.  She  would  rather  be  queen  re- 
gent in  Scotland  than  a  simple  queen  mother 
in  France.  While  she  was  in  France,  she  urged 
the  king  to  use  all  his  influence  to  have  Arran 
resign  his  regency  into  her  hands,  and  finally 
obtained  writings  from  him  and  from  Queen 
Mary  to  this  effect.  She  then  left  France  and 
went  to  Scotland,  going  through  England  on 
the  way.  The  young  King  of  England,  to 
whom  Mary  had  been  engaged  by  the  govern- 
ment when  she  was  an  infant  in  Janet  Sin- 
clair's arms,  renewed  his  proposals  to  the  queen 


46  Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1550. 

A  page  of  honor.  Sir  James  Melville. 

dowager  to  let  her  daughter  become  his  wife ; 
but  she  told  him  that  it  was  all  settled  that  she 
was  to  be  married  to  the  French  prince,  and 
that  it  was  now  too  late  to  change  the  plan. 

There  was  a  young  gentleman,  about  nineteen 
or  twenty  years  of  age,  who  came  from  Scot- 
land also,  not  far  from  this  time,  to  wait  upon 
Mary  as  her  page  of  honor.  A  page  is  an  at- 
tendant above  the  rank  of  an  ordinary  servant, 
whose  business  it  is  to  wait  upon  his  mistress, 
to  read  to  her,  sometimes  to  convey  her  letters 
and  notes,  and  to  carry  her  commands  to  the 
other  attendants  who  are  beneath  him  in  rank, 
and  whose  business  it  is  actually  to  perform  the 
services  which  the  lady  requires.  A  page  of 
honor  is  a  young  gentleman  who  sustains  this 
office  in  a  nominal  and  temporary  manner  for  a 
princess  or  a  queen. 

The  name  of  Mary's  page  of  honor,  who  came 
to  her  now  from  Scotland,  was  Sir  James  Mel- 
ville. The  only  reason  for  mentioning  him  thus 
particularly,  rather  than  the  many  other  officers 
and  attendants  by  whom  Mary  was  surrounded, 
was,  that  the  service  which  he  thus  commenced 
was  continued  in  various  ways  through  the 
whole  period  of  Mary's  life.  We  shall  often 
hear  of  him  in  the  subsequent  parts  of  this  nar- 


1550.]  Her  Education  in  France.     47 

Mary's  character.  Her  diligence.  Devices  and  mottoes. 

rative.  He  followed  Mary  to  Scotland  when 
she  returned  to  that  country,  and  became  after- 
ward her  secretary,  and  also  her  embassador  on 
many  occasions.  He  was  now  quite  young,  and 
when  he  landed  at  Brest  he  traveled  slowly  to 
Paris  in  the  care  of  two  Scotchmen,  to  whose 
charge  he  had  been  intrusted.  He  was  a  young 
man  of  uncommon  talents  and  of  great  accom- 
plishments, and  it  was  a  mark  of  high  distinc- 
tion for  him  to  be  appointed  page  of  honor  to 
the  queen,  although  he  was  about  nineteen 
years  of  age  and  she  was  but  seven. 

After  the  queen  regent's  return  to  Scotland, 
Mary  went  on  improving  in  every  respect  more 
and  more.  She  was  diligent,  industrious,  and 
tractable.  She  took  a  great  interest  in  her 
studies.  She  was  not  only  beautiful  in  person, 
and  amiable  and  affectionate  in  heart,  but  she 
possessed  a  very  intelligent  and  active  mind, 
and  she  entered  with  a  sort  of  quiet  but  earn- 
est enthusiasm  into  all  the  studies  to  which  her 
attention  was  called.  She  paid  a  great  deal  of 
attention  to  music,  to  poetry,  and  to  drawing. 
She  used  to  invent  little  devices  for  seals,  with 
French  and  Latin  mottoes,  and,  after  drawing 
them  again  and  again  with  great  care,  until  she 
was  satisfied  with  the  design,  she  would  give 


48  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1550. 

Festivities.  Water  parties. 

them  to  the  gem-engravers  to  be  cut  upon  stone 
seals,  so  that  she  could  seal  her  letters  with 
them.  These  mottoes  and  devices  can  not  well 
be  represented  in  English,  as  the  force  and  beau- 
ty of  them  depended  generally  upon  a  double 
meaning  in  some  word  of  French  or  Latin, 
which  can  not  be  preserved  in  the  translation. 
We  shall,  however,  give  one  of  these  seals,  which 
she  made  just  before  she  left  France,  to  return 
to  Scotland,  when  we  come  to  that  period  of  her 
history. 

The  King  of  France,  and  the  lords  and  ladies 
who  came  with  Mary  from  Scotland,  contrived 
a  great  many  festivals  and  celebrations  in  the 
parks,  and  forests,  and  palaces,  to  amuse  the 
queen  and  the  four  Maries  who  were  with  her. 
The  daughters  of  the  French  king  joined,  also, 
in  these  pleasures.  They  would  have  little 
balls,  and  parties,  and  pic-nics,  sometimes  in  the 
open  air,  sometimes  in  the  little  summer-houses 
built  upon  the  grounds  attached  to  the  palaces. 
The  scenes  of  these  festivities  were  in  many 
cases  made  unusually  joyous  and  gay  by  bon- 
fires and  illuminations.  They  had  water  par- 
ties on  the  little  lakes,  and  hunting  parties 
through  the  parks  and  forests.  Mary  was  a 
very  graceful  and  beautiful  rider,  and  full  of 


1555.]  Her   Education  in  France.      49 

Hunting.  An  accident.  Restraint. 

courage.  Sometimes  she  met  with  accidents 
which  were  attended  with  some  danger.  Once, 
while  hunting  the  stag,  and  riding  at  full  speed 
with  a  great  company  of  ladies  and  gentlemen 
behind  her  and  before  her,  her  dress  got  caught 
by  the  bough  of  a  tree,  and  she  was  pulled  to 
the  ground.  The  horse  went  on.  Several  oth- 
er riders  drove  by  her  without  seeing  her,  as 
she  had  too  much  composure  and  fortitude  to 
attract  their  attention  by  outcries  and  lamenta- 
tions. They  saw  her,  however,  at  last,  and 
came  to  her  assistance.  They  brought  back 
her  horse,  and,  smoothing  down  her  hair,  which 
had  fallen  into  confusion,  she  mounted  again, 
and  rode  on  after  the  stag  as  before. 

Notwithstanding  all  these  means  of  enjoy- 
ment and  diversion,  Mary  was  subjected  to  a 
great  deal  of  restraint.  The  rules  of  etiquette 
are  very  precise,  and  very  strictly  enforced  in 
royal  households,  and  they  were  still  more  strict 
in  those  days  than  they  are  now.  The  king 
was  very  ceremonious  in  all  his  arrangements, 
and  was  surrounded  by  a  multitude  of  officers 
who  performed  every  thing  by  rule.  As  Mary 
grew  older,  she  was  subjected  to  greater  and 
greater  restraint.  She  used  to  spend  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  every  day  in  the  apartments 
4  35 


50  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1555 

Queen  Catharine.  Her  character.  Embroidery, 

of  Queen  Catharine,  the  wife  of  the  King  of 
France,  and  the  mother  of  the  little  Francis  to 
whom  she  was  to  be  married.  Mary  and  Queen 
Catharine  did  not,  however,  like  each  other  very- 
well.  Catharine  was  a  woman  of  strong  mind 
and  of  an  imperious  disposition ;  and  it  is  sup- 
posed by  some  that  she  was  jealous  of  Mary 
because  she  was  more  beautiful  and  accom- 
plished, and  more  generally  beloved  than  her 
own  daughters,  the  princesses  of  France.  At 
any  rate,  she  treated  Mary  in  rather  a  stern 
and  haughty  manner,  and  it  was  thought  that 
she  would  finally  oppose  her  marriage  to  Fran- 
cis her  son. 

And  yet  Mary  was  at  first  very  much  pleas- 
ed with  Queen  Catharine,  and  was  accustomed 
to  look  up  to  her  with  great  admiration,  and  to 
feel  for  her  a  very  sincere  regard.  She  often 
went  into  the  queen's  apartments,  where  they 
sat  together  and  talked,  or  worked  upon  their 
embroidery,  which  was  a  famous  amusement 
for  ladies  of  exalted  rank  in  those  days.  Mary 
herself  at  one  time  worked  a  large  piece,  which 
she  sent  as  a  present  to  the  nuns  hi  the  con- 
vent where  she  had  resided ;  and  afterward,  in 
Scotland,  she  worked  a  great  many  things, 
some  of  which  still  remain,  and  may  be  seen  in 


1555.]  Her   Education  in  France.    51 

Mary's  admiration  of  Queen  Catharine.  The  latter  suspicious. 

her  ancient  rooms  in  the  palace  of  Holyrood 
House.  She  learned  this  art  by  working  with 
Queen  Catharine  in  her  apartments.  When 
she  first  became  acquainted  with  Catharine  on 
these  occasions,  she  used  to  love  her  society. 
She  admired  her  talents  and  her  conversational 
powers,  and  she  liked  very  much  to  be  in  her 
room.  She  listened  to  all  she  said,  watched 
her  movements,  and  endeavored  in  aM  things  to 
follow  her  example. 

Catharine,  however,  thought  that  this  was 
all  a  pretense,  and  that  Mary  did  not  really 
like  her,  but  only  wished  to  make  her  believe 
that  she  did  so  in  order  to  get  favor,  or  to  ac- 
complish some  other  selfish  end.  One  day  she 
asked  her  why  she  seemed  to  prefer  her  society 
to  that  of  her  youthful  and  more  suitable  com- 
panions. Mary  replied,  in  substance,  "  The 
reason  was,  that  though  with  them  she  might 
enjoy  much,  she  could  learn  nothing ;  while  she 
always  learned  from  Queen  Catharine's  conver- 
sation something  which  would  be  of  use  to  her 
as  a  guide  in  future  life."  One  would  have 
thought  that  this  answer  would  have  pleased 
the  queen,  but  it  did  not.  She  did  not  believe 
that  it  was  sincere. 

On  one  occasion  Mary  seriously  offended  the 


52  Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1555. 

Unguarded  remark.  Catharine's  mortification.  The  dauphin. 

queen  by  a  remark  which  she  made,  and  which 
was,  at  least,  incautious.  Kings  and  queens, 
and,  in  fact,  all  great  people  in  Europe,  pride 
themselves  very  much  upon  the  antiquity  of  the 
line  from  which  they  have  descended.  Now  the 
family  of  Queen  Catharine  had  risen  to  rank 
and  distinction  within  a  moderate  period ;  and 
though  she  was,  as  Queen  of  France,  on  the 
very  pinnacle  of  human  greatness,  she  would 
naturally  be  vexed  at  any  remark  which  would 
remind  her  of  the  recentness  of  her  elevation. 
Now  Mary  at  one  time  said,  in  conversation  in 
the  presence  of  Queen  Catharine,  that  she  her- 
self was  the  descendant  of  a  hundred  kings. 
This  was  perhaps  true,  but  it  brought  her  into 
direct  comparison  with  Catharine  in  a  point  in 
which  the  latter  was  greatly  her  inferior,  and  it 
vexed  and  mortified  her  exceedingly  to  have 
such  a  thing  said  to  her  by  such  a  child. 

Mary  associated  thus  during  all  this  time, 
not  only  with  the  queen  and  the  princesses,  but 
also  with  the  little  prince  whom  she  was  des- 
tined to  marry.  His  name  was  Francis,  but 
he  was  commonly  called  the  dauphin,  which 
was  the  name  by  which  the  oldest  son  of  the 
King  of  France  was  then,  and  has  been  since 
designated.    The  origin  of  this  custom  was  this. 


1555.]  Her    Education  in  France.    53 

Origin  of  the  title.  Character  of  Francis. 

About  a  hundred  years  before  the  time  of  which 
we  are  speaking,  a  certain  nobleman  of  high 
rank,  who  possessed  estates  in  an  ancient  prov- 
ince of  France  called  Dauphiny,  lost  his  son 
and  heir.  He  was  overwhelmed  with  affliction 
at  the  loss,  and  finally  bequeathed  all  his  es- 
tates to  the  king  and  his  successors,  on  condi- 
tion that  the  oldest  son  should  bear  the  title  of 
Dauphin.  The  grant  was  accepted,  and  the 
oldest  son  was  accordingly  so  styled  from  that 
time  forward,  from  generation  to  generation. 

The  dauphin,  Francis,  was  a  weak  and  fee- 
ble child,  but  he  was  amiable  and  gentle  in  his 
manners,  and  Mary  liked  him.  She  met  him 
often  in  their  walks  and  rides,  and  she  danced 
with  him  at  the  balls  and  parties  given  for  her 
amusement.  She  knew  that  he  was  to  be  her 
husband  as  soon  as  she  was  old  enough  to  be 
married,  and  he  knew  that  she  was  to  be  his 
wife.  It  was  all  decided,  and  nothing  which 
either  of  them  could  say  or  do  would  have  any 
influence  on  the  result.  Neither  of  them,  how- 
ever, seem  to  have  had  any  desire  to  change  the 
result.  Mary  pitied  Francis  on  account  of  his 
feeble  health,  and  liked  his  amiable  and  gentle 
disposition ;  and  Francis  could  not  help  loving 


54  Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1555. 

Mary's  beauty.  Torch-light  procession.  An  angel. 

Mary,  both  on  account  of  the  traits  of  her  char- 
acter and  her  personal  charms. 

As  Mary  advanced  in  years,  she  grew  very 
beautiful.  In  some  of  the  great  processions  and 
ceremonies,  the  ladies  were  accustomed  to  walk, 
magnificently  dressed,  and  carrying  torches  in 
their  hands.  In  one  of  these  processions  Mary 
was  moving  along  with  the  rest,  through  a 
crowd  of  spectators,  and  the  light  from  her  torch 
fell  upon  her  features  and  upon  her  hair  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  make  her  appear  more  beauti- 
ful than  usual.  A  woman,  standing  there, 
pressed  up  nearer  to  her  to  view  her  more  close- 
ly, and,  seeing  how  beautiful  she  was,  asked 
her  if  she  was  not  an  angel.  In  those  days, 
however,  people  believed  in  what  is  miraculous 
and  supernatural  more  easily  than  now,  so  that 
it  was  not  very  surprising  that  one  should  think, 
in  such  a  case,  that  an  angel  from  Heaven  had 
come  down  to  join  in  the  procession. 

Mary  grew  up  a  Catholic,  of  course :  all  were 
Catholics  around  her.  The  king  and  all  the 
royal  family  were  devoted  to  Catholic  observ- 
ances. The  convent,  the  ceremonies,  the  daily 
religious  observances  enjoined  upon  her,  the 
splendid  churches  which  she  frequented,  all 
tended  in  their  influence  to  lead  her  mind  away 


1556.]  Her   Education   in   France.     55 

Mary  a  Catholic.  Her  conscientiousness  and  fidelity. 

from  the  Protestant  religion  which  prevailed  in 
her  native  land,  and  to  make  her  a  Catholic  : 
she  remained  so  throughout  her  life.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  she  was  conscientious  in  her  at- 
tachment to  the  forms  and  to  the  spirit  of  the 
Roman  Church.  At  any  rate,  she  was  faithful 
to  the  ties  which  her  early  education  imposed 
upon  her,  and  this  fidelity  became  afterward 
the  source  of  some  of  her  heaviest  calamities 
and  woes. 


56  Mary   Queen   op   Scots.     [1558. 

Hastening  the  wedding.  Reasons  for  it 


Chapter   III. 
The    Great   Wedding. 

WHEN  Mary  was  about  fifteen  years  of 
age,  the  King  of  France  began  to  think 
that  it  was  time  for  her  to  be  married.  It  is 
true  that  she  was  still  very  young,  but  there 
were  strong  reasons  for  having  the  marriage 
take  place  at  the  earliest  possible  period,  for 
fear  that  something  might  occur  to  prevent  its 
consummation  at  all.  In  fact,  there  were  very 
strong  parties  opposed  to  it  altogether.  The 
whole  Protestant  interest  in  Scotland  were  op- 
posed to  it,  and  were  continually  contriving 
plans  to  defeat  it.  They  thought  that  if  Mary 
married  a  French  prince,  who  was,  of  course,  a 
Catholic,  she  would  become  wedded  to  the  Cath- 
olic interest  hopelessly  and  forever.  This  made 
them  feel  a  most  bitter  and  determined  oppo- 
sition to  the  plan. 

In  fact,  so  bitter  and  relentless  were  the  an- 
imosities that  grew  out  of  this  question,  that 
an  attempt  was  actually  made  to  poison  Mary. 
The  man  who  committed  this  crime  was  an 
archer  in  the  king's  guard :  he  was  a  Scotch- 


1558.]      The    Great   Wedding.  57 

Attempt  to  poison  Mary.  The  Guises.  Catharine's  jealousy. 

man,  and  his  name  was»Stewart.  His  attempt 
was  discovered  in  time  to  prevent  the  accom- 
plishment of  his  purpose.  He  was  tried  and 
condemned.  They  made  every  effort  to  induce 
him  to  explain  the  reason  which  led  him  to  such 
an  act,  or,  if  he  was  employed  by  others,  to  re- 
veal their  names  ;  but  he  would  reveal  nothing. 
He  was  executed  for  his  crime,  leaving  man- 
kind to  conjecture  that  his  motive,  or  that  of 
the  persons  who  instigated  him  to  the  deed,  was 
a  desperate  determination  to  save  Scotland,  at 
all  hazards,  from  falling  under  the  influence  of 
papal  power. 

Mary's  mother,  the  queen  dowager  of  Scot- 
land, was  of  a  celebrated  French  family,  called 
the  family  of  Guise.  She  is  often,  herself,  called 
in  history,  Mary  of  Guise.  There  were  other 
great  families  in  France  who  were  very  jealous 
of  the  Guises,  and  envious  of  their  influence 
and  power.  They  opposed  Queen  Mary's  mar- 
riage to  the  dauphin,  and  were  ready  to  do  all 
in  their  power  to  thwart  and  defeat  it.  Queen 
Catharine,  too,  who  seemed  to  feel  a  greater  and 
greater  degree  of  envy  and  jealousy  against 
Mary  as  she  saw  her  increasing  in  grace,  beau- 
ty, and  influence  with  her  advancing  years, 
was  supposed  to  be  averse  to  the  marriage. 


58  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1558. 


Commissioners  from  Scotland.  Preliminaries. 

Mary  was,  in  some  sense,  her  rival,  and  she 
could  not  bear  to  have  her  become  the  wife  of 
her  son. 

King  Henry,  finding  all  these  opposing  influ- 
ences at  work,  thought  that  the  safest  plan 
would  be  to  have  the  marriage  carried  into  ef- 
fect at  the  earliest  possible  period.  When, 
therefore,  Mary  was  about  fifteen  years  of  age, 
which  was  in  1557,  he  sent  to  Scotland,  asking 
the  government  there  to  appoint  some  commis- 
sioners to  come  to  France  to  assent  to  the  mar- 
riage contracts,  and  to  witness  the  ceremonies 
of  the  betrothment  and  the  weddinsr.  The  mar- 
riage  contracts,  in  the  case  of  the  union  of  a 
queen  of  one  country  with  a  prince  of  another, 
are  documents  of  very  high  importance.  It  is 
considered  necessary  not  only  to  make  very 
formal  provision  for  the  personal  welfare  and 
comfort  of  the  wife  during  her  married  life, 
and  during  her  widowhood  in  case  of  the  death 
of  her  husband,  but  also  to  settle  beforehand 
the  questions  of  succession  which  might  arise 
out  of  the  marriage,  and  to  define  precisely  the 
rights  and  powers  both  of  the  husband  and  the 
wife,  in  the  two  countries  to  which  they  re- 
spectively belong. 

The  Parliament  of  Scotland  appointed  a  num- 


1553.]      The    Great   Wedding.  59 

Stipulations.  Plan  of  Henry  to  evade  them. 

ber  of  commissioners,  of  the  highest  rank  and 
station,  to  proceed  to  France,  and  to  act  there 
as  the  representatives  of  Scotland  in  every  thing 
which  pertained  to  the  marriage,  They  charged 
them  to  guard  well  the  rights  and  powers  of 
Mary,  to  see  that  these  rights  and  all  the  inter- 
ests of  Scotland  were  well  protected  in  the  mar- 
riage contracts,  and  to  secure  proper  provision 
for  the  personal  comfort  and  happiness  of  the 
queen.  The  number  of  these  commissioners 
was  eight.  Their  departure  from  Scotland  was 
an  event  of  great  public  importance.  They 
were  accompanied  by  a  large  number  of  at- 
tendants and  followers,  who  were  eager  to  be 
present  in  Paris  at  the  marriage  festivities. 
The  whole  company  arrived  safely  at  Paris, 
and  were  received  with  every  possible  mark  of 
distinction  and  honor. 

The  marriage  contracts  were  drawn  up,  and 
executed  with  great  formality.  King  Henry 
made  no  objection  to  any  of  the  stipulations  and 
provisions  which  the  commissioners  required, 
for  he  had  a  secret  plan  for  evading  them  all. 
Very  ample  provision  was  made  for  Mary  herself. 
She  was  to  have  a  very  large  income.  In  case 
the  dauphin  died  while  he  was  dauphin,  leaving 
Mary  a  widow,  she  was  still  to  have  a  large  in- 


60  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1558. 

Marriage  settlement.  Secret  papers. 

come  paid  to  her  by  the  French  government 
as  long  as  she  lived,  whether  she  remained  in 
France  or  went  back  to  Scotland.  If  her  hus- 
band outlived  his  father,  so  as  to  become  King 
of  France,  and  then  died,  leaving  Mary  his  wid- 
ow, her  income  for  the  rest  of  her  life  was  to 
be  double  what  it  would  have  been  if  he  had 
died  while  dauphin.  Francis  was,  in  the  mean 
time,  to  share  with  her  the  government  of  Scot- 
land. If  they  had  a  son,  he  was  to  be,  after 
their  deaths,  King  of  France  and  of  Scotland 
too.  Thus  the  two  crowns  would  have  been 
united.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  they  had  only 
daughters,  the  oldest  one  was  to  be  Queen  of 
Scotland  only,  as  the  laws  of  France  did  not  al- 
low a  female  to  inherit  the  throne.  In  case  they 
had  no  children,  the  crown  of  Scotland  was  not 
to  come  into  the  French  family  at  all,  but  to 
descend  regularly  to  the  next  Scotch  heir. 

Henry  was  not  satisfied  with  this  entirely, 
for  he  wanted  to  secure  the  union  of  the  Scotch 
and  French  crowns  at  all  events,  whether  Mary 
had  children  or  not ;  and  he  persuaded  Mary  to 
sign  some  papers  with  him  privately,  which  he 
thought  would  secure  his  purposes,  charging 
her  not  to  let  the  commissioners  know  that  she 
had  signed  them.     He  thought  it  possible  that 


1558.]      The    Great   Wedding.  61 

Their  contents.  Ceremonies. 

he  should  never  have  occasion  to  produce  them. 
One  of  these  papers  conveyed  the  crown  of  Scot- 
land to  the  King  of  France  absolutely  and  for- 
ever, in  case  Mary  should  die  without  children. 
Another  provided  that  the  Scotch  government 
should  repay  him  for  the  enormous  sums  he  had 
expended  upon  Mary  during  her  residence  in 
France,  for  her  education,  her  attendants,  the 
celebrations  and  galas  which  he  had  provided 
for  her,  and  all  the  splendid  journeys,  proces- 
sions, and  parades.  His  motive  in  all  this  ex- 
pense had  been  to  unite  the  crown  of  Scotland 
to  that  of  France,  and  he  wanted  to  provide  that 
if  any  thing  should  occur  to  prevent  the  execu- 
tion of  his  plai^,  he  could  have  all  this  money 
reimbursed  to  him  again.  He  estimated  the 
amount  at  a  million  of  pieces  of  gold.  This  was 
an  enormous  sum :  it  shows  on  how  magnifi- 
cent a  scale  Mary's  reception  and  entertain- 
ment in  France  were  managed. 

These  preliminary  proceedings  being  settled, 
all  Paris,  and,  in  fact,  all  France,  began  to  pre- 
pare for  the  marriage  celebrations.  There  were 
to  be  two  great  ceremonies  connected  with  the 
occasion.  The  first  was  the  betrothment,  the 
second  was  the  marriage.  At  the  betrothment 
Francis  and  Mary  were  to  meet  in  a  great  pub- 


62  Mary   Queen   of    Scots.      [1558. 

The  betrothal.  The  Louvre. 

lie  hall,  and  there,  in  the  presence  of  a  small 
and  select  assemblage  of  the  lords  and  ladies  of 
the  court,  and  persons  of  distinction  connected 
with  the  royal  family,  they  were  formally  and 
solemnly  to  engage  themselves  to  each  other. 
Then,  in  about  a  week  afterward,  they  were  to 
be  married,  in  the  most  public  manner,  in  the 
great  Cathedral  Church  of  Notre  Dame. 

The  ceremony  of  the  betrothal  was  celebrated 
in  the  palace.  The  palace  then  occupied  by 
the  royal  family  was  the  Louvre.  It  still 
stands,  but  is  no  longer  a  royal  dwelling.  An- 
other palace,  more  modern  in  its  structure,  and 
called  the  Tuilleries,  has  since  been  built,  a  lit- 
tle farther  from  the  heart  of  the  city,  and  in  a 
more  pleasant  situation.  The  Louvre  is  square, 
with  an  open  court  in  the  center.  This  open 
court  or  area  is  very  large,  and  is  paved  like 
the  streets.  In  fact,  two  great  carriage  ways 
pass  through  it,  crossing  each  other  at  right 
angles  in  the  center,  and  passing  out  under 
great  arch- ways  in  the  four  sides  of  the  build- 
ing. There  is  a  great  hall  within  the  palace, 
and  in  this  hall  the  ceremony  of  the  betrothal 
took  place.  Francis  and  Mary  pledged  their 
faith  to  each  other  with  appropriate  ceremonies. 
Only  a  select  circle  of  relations  and  intimate 


1558.]        The    Great   Wedding.  63 

N6tre  Dame.  View  of  the  interior. 

friends  were  present  on  this  occasion.  The  cere- 
mony was  concluded  in  the  evening  with  a  ball. 
In  the  mean  time,  all  Paris  was  busy  with 
preparations  for  the  marriage.  The-  Louvre  is 
upon  one  side  of  the  River  Seine,  its  principal 
front  being  toward  the  river,  with  a  broad  street 
between.  There  are  no  buildings,  but  only  a 
parapet  wall  on  the  river  side  of  the  street,  so 
that  there  is  a  fine  view  of  the  river  and  of  the 
bridges  which  cross  it,  from  the  palace  windows. 
Nearly  opposite  the  Louvre  is  an  island,  cover- 
ed with  edifices,  and  connected,  by  means  of 
bridges,  with  either  shore.  The  great  church 
of  Notre  Dame,  where  the  marriage  ceremony 
was  to  be  performed,  is  upon  this  island.  It 
has  two  enormous  square  towers  in  front,  which 
may  be  seen,  rising  above  all  the  roofs  of  the 
city,  at  a  great  distance  in  every  direction. 
Before  the  church  is  a  large  open  area,  where 
vast  crowds  assemble  on  any  great  occasion. 
The  interior  of  the  church  impresses  the  mind 
with  the  sublimest  emotions.  Two  rows  of 
enormous  columns  rise  to  a  great  height  on 
either  hand,  supporting  the  lofty  arches  of  the 
roof.  The  floor  is  paved  with  great  flat  stones, 
and  resounds  continually  with  the  footsteps  of 
visitors,  who  walk  to  and  fro,  up  and  down  the 


64  Mary    Queen   of    Scots.     [1558. 

Amphitheater.  Covered  gallery. 

aisles,  looking  at  the  chapels,  the  monuments, 
the  sculptures,  the  paintings,  and  the  antique 
and  grotesque  images  and  carvings.  Colored 
light  streams  through  the  stained  glass  of  the 
enormous  windows,  and  the  tones  of  the  organ, 
and  the  voices  of  the  priests,  chanting  the  ser- 
vice of  the  mass,  are  almost  always  resounding 
and  echoing  from  the  vaulted  roof  above. 

The  words  Notre  Dame  mean  Our  Lady,  an 
expression  by  which  the  Roman  Catholics  de- 
note Mary,  the  mother  of  Jesus.  The  church 
of  Notre  Dame  had  been  for  many  centuries  the 
great  cathedral  church  of  Paris,  where  all  great 
ceremonies  of  state  were  performed.  On  this 
occasion  they  erected  a  great  amphitheater  in 
the  area  before  the  church,  which  would  accom- 
modate many  thousands  of  the  spectators  who 
were  to  assemble,  and  enable  them  to  see  the 
procession.  The  bride  and  bridegroom,  and 
their  friends,  were  to  assemble  in  the  bishop's 
palace,  which  was  near  the  Cathedral,  and  a 
covered  gallery  was  erected,  leading  from  this 
palace  to  the  church,  through  which  the  bridal 
party  were  to  enter.  They  lined  this  gallery 
throughout  with  purple  velvet,  and  ornamented 
it  in  other  ways,  so  as  to  make  the  approach  to 
the  church  through  it  inconceivably  splendid. 


1558.] 

T 

HE 

G 

REAT 

Wedding. 

65 

The  procession. 

Mary's 

dress. 

Crowds  began  to  collect  in  the  great  amphi- 
theater early  in  the  morning.  The  streets  lead- 
ing to  Notre  Dame  were  thronged.  Every  win- 
dow in  all  the  lofty  buildings  around,  and  every 
balcony,  was  full.  From  ten  to  twelve  the  mil- 
itary bands  began  to  arrive,  and  the  long  pro- 
cession was  formed,  the  different  parties  being 
dressed  in  various  picturesque  costumes.  The 
embassadors  of  various  foreign  potentates  were 
present,  each  bearing  their  appropriate  insig- 
nia. The  legate  of  the  pope,  magnificently 
dressed,  had  an  attendant  bearing  before  him  a 
cross  of  massive  gold.  The  bridegroom,  Fran- 
cis the  dauphin?  followed  this  legate,  and  soon 
afterward  came  Mary,  accompanied  by  the  king. 
She  was  dressed  in  white.  Her  robe  was  em- 
broidered with  the  figure  of  the  lily,  and  it  glit- 
tered with  diamonds  and  ornaments  of  silver. 
As  was  the  custom  in  those  days,  her  dress 
formed  a  long  train,  which  was  borne  by  two 
young  girls  who  walked  behind  her.  She  wore 
a  diamond  necklace,  with  a  ring  of  immense 
value  suspended  from  it,  and  upon  her  head 
was  a  golden  coronet,  enriched  with  diamonds 
and  gems  of  inestimable  value. 

But  the  dress  and  the  diamonds  which  Mary 
wore  were  not  the  chief  points  of  attraction  to 
5 


66  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.    [1558. 

Appearance  of  Mary.  Wedding  ring. 

the  spectators.  All  who  were  present  on  the 
occasion  agree  in  saying  that  she  looked  inex- 
pressibly beautiful,  and  that  there  was  an  in- 
describable grace  and  charm  in  all  her  move- 
ments and  manner,  which  filled  all  who  saw  her 
with  an  intoxication  of  delight.  She  was  art- 
less and  unaffected  in  her  manners,  and  her 
countenance,  the  expression  of  which  was  gen- 
erally placid  and  calm,  was  lighted  up  with  the 
animation  and  interest  of  the  occasion,  so  as  to 
make  every  body  envy  the  dauphin  the  posses- 
sion of  so  beautiful  a  bride.  Queen  Catharine, 
and  a  long  train  of  the  ladies  of  the  court,  fol- 
lowed in  the  procession  after  Mary.  Every 
body  thought  that  she  felt  envious  and  ill  at 
ease. 

The  essential  thing  in  the  marriage  ceremony 
was  to  be  the  putting  of  the  wedding  ring  upon 
Mary's  finger,  and  the  pronouncing  of  the  nup- 
tial benediction  which  was  immediately  to  fol- 
low it.  This  ceremony  was  to  be  performed  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Rouen,  who  was  at  that  time 
the  greatest  ecclesiastical  dignitary  in  France. 
In  order  that  as  many  persons  as  possible  might 
witness  this,  it  was  arranged  that  it  should  be 
performed  at  the  great  door  of  the  church,  so  as 
to  be  in  view  of  the  immense  throng  which  had 


1558.]      The   Great   Wedding.  67 

Movement  of  the  procession.  Largess. 

assembled  in  the  amphitheater  erected  in  the 
area,  and  of  the  multitudes  which  had  taken 
their  positions  at  the  windows  and  balconies, 
and  on  the  house-tops  around.  The  procession, 
accordingly,  having  entered  the  church  through 
the  covered  gallery,  moved  along  the  aisles  and 
came  to  the  great  door.  Here  a  royal  pavilion 
had  been  erected,  where  the  bridal  party  could 
stand  in  view  of  the  whole  assembled  multi- 
tude. King  Henry  had  the  ring.  He  gave  it  to 
the  archbishop.  The  archbishop  placed  it  upon 
Mary's  finger,  and  pronounced  the  benediction 
in  a  loud  voice.  The  usual  congratulations  fol- 
lowed, and  Mary  greeted  her  husband  under  the 
name  of  his  majesty  the  King  of  Scotland.  Then 
the  whole  mighty  crowd  rent  the  air  with  shouts 
and  acclamations. 

It  was  the  custom  in  those  days,  on  such 
great  public  occasions  as  this,  to  scatter  money 
among  the  crowd,  that  they  might  scramble 
for  it.  This  was  called  the  king's  largess;  and 
the  largess  was  pompously  proclaimed  by  her- 
alds before  the  money  was  thrown.  The  throw- 
ing of  the  money  among  this  immense  throng 
produced  a  scene  of  indescribable  confusion. 
The  people  precipitated  themselves  upon  each 
other  in  their  eagerness  to  seize  the  silver  and 


68 

Mary   Queen   of    Scots. 

[1558. 

Confusion. 

The  choir. 

Mass. 

the  gold.  Some  were  trampled  under  foot. 
Some  were  stripped  of  their  hats  and  cloaks,  or 
had  their  clothes  torn  from  them.  Some  faint- 
ed, and  were  borne  out  of  the  scene  with  infi- 
nite difficulty  and  danger.  At  last  the  people 
clamorously  begged  the  officers  to  desist  from 
throwing  any  more  money,  for  fear  that  the 
most  serious  and  fatal  consequences  might 
ensue. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  bridal  procession  re- 
turned into  the  church,  and,  advancing  up  the 
center  between  the  lofty  columns,  they  came  to 
a  place  called  the  choir,  which  is  in  the  heart 
of  the  church,  and  is  inclosed  by  screens  of 
carved  and  sculptured  work.  It  is  in  the  choir 
that  congregations  assemble  to  be  present  at 
mass  and  other  religious  ceremonies.  Mova- 
ble seats  are  placed  here  on  ordinary  occasions, 
but  at  the  time  of  this  wedding  the  place  was 
fitted  up  with  great  splendor.  Here  mass  was 
performed  in  the  presence  of  the  bridal  party. 
Mass  is  a  solemn  ceremony  conducted  by  the 
priests,  in  which  they  renew,  or  think  they  re- 
new, the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  accompanied  with 
offerings  of  incense,  and  other  acts  of  adoration, 
and  the  chanting  of  solemn  hymns  of  praise. 

At  the  close  of  these  services  the  procession 


1558.]       The    Great   Wedding.  69 

Return  of  the  procession.  Collation.  Ball. 

moved  again  down  the  church,  and,  issuing  forth 
at  the  great  entrance,  it  passed  around  upon  a 
spacious  platform,  where  it  could  be  seen  to  ad- 
vantage by  all  the  spectators.  Mary  was  the 
center  to  which  all  eyes  were  turned.  She 
moved  along,  the  very  picture  of  grace  and  beau- 
ty, the  two  young  girls  who  followed  her  bear- 
ing her  train.  The  procession,  after  completing 
its  circuit,  returned  to  the  church,  and  thence, 
through  the  covered  gallery,  it  moved  back  to 
the  bishop's  palace.  Here  the  company  partook 
of  a  grand  collation.  After  the  collation  there 
was  a  ball,  but  the  ladies  were  too  much  em- 
barrassed with  their  magnificent  dresses  to  be 
able  to  dance,  and  at  five  o'clock  the  royal  fam- 
ily returned  to  their  home.  Mary  and  Queen 
Catharine  went  together  in  a  sort  of  palanquin, 
borne  by  men,  high  officers  of  state  walking  on 
each  side.  The  king  and  the  dauphin  followed 
on  horseback,  with  a  large  company  in  their 
train;  but  the  streets  were  every  where  so 
crowded  with  eager  spectators  that  it  was  with 
extreme  difficulty  that  they  were  able  to  make 
their  way. 

The  palace  to  which  the  party  went  to  spend 
the  evening  was  fitted  up  and  illuminated  in  the 
most  splendid  manner,  and  a  variety  of  most 


70  Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1558. 

Evening's  entertainments.  A  tournament. 

curious  entertainments  had  been  contrived  for 
the  amusement  of  the  company.  There  were 
twelve  artificial  horses,  made  to  move  by  in- 
ternal mechanism,  and  splendidly  caparisoned. 
The  children  of  the  company,  the  little  princes 
and  dukes,  mounted  these  horses  and  rode 
around  the  arena.  Then  came  in  a  company 
of  men  dressed  like  pilgrims,  each  of  whom  re- 
cited a  poem  written  in  honor  of  the  occasion. 
After  this  was  an  exhibition  of  galleys,  or  boats, 
upon  a  little  sea.  These  boats  were  large  enough 
to  bear  up  two  persons.  There  were  two  seats 
in  each,  one  of  which  was  occupied  by  a  young 
gentleman.  As  the  boats  advanced,  one  by  one, 
each  gentleman  leaped  to  the  shore,  or  to  what 
represented  the  shore,  and,  going  among  the  com- 
pany, selected  a  lady  and  bore  her  off  to  his 
boat,  and  then,  seating  her  in  the  vacant  chair, 
took  his  place  by  her  side,  and  continued  his 
voyage.  Francis  was  in  one  of  the  boats,  and 
he,  on  coming  to  the  shore,  took  Mary  for  his 
companion. 

The  celebrations  and  festivities  of  this  famous 
wedding  continued  for  fifteen  days.  They  closed 
with  a  grand  tournament.  A  tournament  was 
a  very  magnificent  spectacle  in  those  days.  A 
field  was  inclosed,  in  which  kings,  and  princes, 


1558.]      The    Great   Wedding.  71 

Rank  of  the  combatants.  Lances. 

and  knights,  fully  armed,  and  mounted  on  war- 
horses,  tilted  against  each  other  with  lanees  and 
blunted  swords.  Ladies  of  high  rank  were  pres- 
ent as  spectators  and  judges,  and  one  was  ap- 
pointed at  each  tournament  to  preside,  and  to  dis- 
tribute the  honors  and  rewards  to  those  who 
were  most  successful  in  the  contests.  The  great- 
est possible  degree  of  deference  and  honor  was 
paid  to  the  ladies  by  all  the  knights  on  these 
occasions.  Once,  at  a  tournament  in  London, 
arranged  by  a  king  of  England,  the  knights  and 
noblemen  rode  in  a  long  procession  to  the  field, 
each  led  by  a  lady  by  means  of  a  silver  chain. 
It  was  a  great  honor  to  be  admitted  to  a  share 
in  these  contests,  as  none  but  persons  of  the  high- 
est rank  were  allowed  to  take  a  part  in  them. 
Whenever  one  was  to  be  held,  invitations  were 
sent  to  all  the  courts  of  Europe,  and  kings, 
queens,  and  sovereign  princes  came  to  witness 
the  spectacle. 

The  horsemen  who  contended  on  these  occa- 
sions carried  long  lances,  blunt,  indeed,  at  the 
end,  so  that  they  could  not  penetrate  the  armor 
of  the  antagonist  at  which  they  were  aimed, 
but  yet  of  such  weight  that  the  momentum  of 
the  blow  was  sometimes  sufficient  to  unhorse 
him.    The  great  object  of  every  combatant  was, 


72  Mary  Queen   of    Scots.     [1558. 

Rapid  evolutions.  Towner.  Francis's  feebleness. 

accordingly,  to  protect  himself  from  this  danger. 
He  must  turn  his  horse  suddenly,  and  avoid 
the  lance  of  his  antagonist ;  or  he  must  strike  it 
with  his  own,  and  thus  parry  the  blow :  or  if  he 
must  encounter  it,  he  was  to  brace  himself  firm- 
ly in  his  saddle,  and  resist  its  impulse  with  all 
the  strength  that  he  could  command.  It  re- 
quired, therefore,  great  strength  and  great  dex- 
terity to  excel  in  a  tournament.  In  fact,  the  ra- 
pidity of  the  evolutions  which  it  required  gave 
origin  to  the  name,  the  word  tournament  being 
formed  from  a  French  word*  which  signifies  to 
turn. 

The  princes  and  noblemen  who  were  present 
at  the  wedding  all  joined  in  the  tournament 
except  the  poor  bridegroom,  who  was  too  weak 
and  feeble  in  body,  and  too  timid  in  mind,  for 
any  such  rough  and  warlike  exercises.  Fran- 
cis was  very  plain  and  unprepossessing  in  coun- 
tenance, and  shy  and  awkward  in  his  manners. 
His  health  had  always  been  very  infirm,  and 
though  his  rank  was  very  high,  as  he  was  the 
heir  apparent  to  what  was  then  the  greatest 
throne  in  Europe,  every  body  thought  that  in 
all  other  respects  he  was  unfit  to  be  the  hus- 

*  Tourner. 


1558.]      The    Great   Wedding.  73 

Mary's  love  for  him.  He  retires  to  the  country. 

band  of  such  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  prin- 
cess as  Mary.  He  was  timid,  shy,  and  anxious 
and  unhappy  in  disposition.  He  knew  that  the 
gay  and  warlike  spirits  around  him  could  not 
look  upon  him  with  respect,  and  he  felt  a  pain- 
ful sense  of  his  inferiority. 

Mary,  however,  loved  him.  It  was  a  love, 
perhaps,  mingled  with  pity.  She  did  not  as- 
sume an  air  of  superiority  over  him,  but  en- 
deavored to  encourage  him,  to  lead  him  for- 
ward, to  inspire  him  with  confidence  and  hope, 
and  to  make  him  feel  his  own  strength  and  val- 
ue. She  was  herself  of  a  sedate  and  thought- 
ful character,  and  with  all  her  intellectual  su- 
periority, she  was  characterized  by  that  femi- 
nine gentleness  of  spirit,  that  disposition  to  fol- 
low and  to  yield  rather  than  to  govern,  that  de- 
sire to  be  led  and  to  be  loved  rather  than  to 
lead  and  be  admired,  which  constitute  the  high- 
est charm  of  woman. 

Francis  was  glad  when  the  celebrations, 
tournament  and  all,  were  well  over.  He  set 
off  from  Paris  with  his  young  bride  to  one  of 
his  country  residences,  where  he  could  live,  for 
a  while,  in  peace  and  quietness.  Mary  was  re- 
leased, in  some  degree,  from  the  restraints,  and 
formalities,  and  rules  of  etiquette  of  King  Hen- 


74  Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1558. 

Rejoicings  in  Scotland.  Mons  Meg.  Large  ball. 

ry's  court,  and  was,  to  some  extent,  her  own 
mistress,  though  still  surrounded  with  many 
attendants,  and  much  parade  and  splendor. 
The  young  couple  thus  commenced  the  short 
period  of  their  married  life.  They  were  cer- 
tainly a  very  young  couple,  being  both  of  them 
under  sixteen. 

The  rejoicings  on  account  of  the  marriage 
were  not  confined  to  Paris.  All  Scotland  cele- 
brated the  event  with  much  parade.  The  Cath- 
olic party  there  were  pleased  with  the  final  con- 
summation of  the  event,  and  all  the  people, 
in  fact,  joined,  more  or  less,  in  commemora- 
ting the  marriage  of  their  queen.  There  is  in 
the  Castle  of  Edinburgh,  on  a  lofty  platform 
which  overlooks  a  broad  valley,  a  monstrous 
gun,  several  centuries  old,  which  was  formed 
of  bars  of  iron  secured  by  great  iron  hoops. 
The  balls  which  this  gun  carried  are  more  than 
a  foot  in  diameter.  The  name  of  this  enormous 
piece  of  ordnance  is  Mons  Meg.  It  is  now  dis- 
abled, having  been  burst,  many  years  ago,  and 
injured  beyond  the  possibility  of  repair.  There 
were  great  rejoicings  in  Edinburgh  at  the  time 
of  Mary's  marriage,  and  from  some  old  accounts 
which  still  remain  at  the  castle,  it  appears  that 
ten  shillings  were  paid  to  some  men  for  moving 


1558.]      The   Great   Wedding.  75 


Celebration  of  Mary's  marriage. 


up  Mons  Meg  to  the  embrasure  of  the  battery, 
and  for  finding  and  bringing  back  her  shot  after 
she  was  discharged ;  by  which  it  appears  that 
firing  Mons  Meg  was  a  part  of  the  celebration 
by  which  the  people  of  Edinburgh  honored  the 
marriage  of  their  queen. 


76  Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1559. 

Mary's  love  for  Francis.  How  to  cherish  the  passion. 


Chapter  IV. 
Misfortunes. 

IT  was  said  in  the  last  chapter  that  Mary 
loved  her  husband,  infirm  and  feeble  as  he 
was  both  in  body  and  in  mind.  This  love  was 
probably  the  effect,  quite  as  much  as  it  was  the 
cause,  of  the  kindness  which  she  showed  him. 
As  we  are  very  apt  to  hate  those  whom  we  have 
injured,  so  we  almost  instinctively  love  those 
who  have  in  any  way  become  the  objects  of  our 
kindness  and  care.  If  any  wife,  therefore,  wish- 
es for  the  pleasure  of  loving  her  husband,  or 
which  is,  perhaps,  a  better  supposition,  if  any 
husband  desires  the  happiness  of  loving  his  wife, 
conscious  that  it  is  a  pleasure  which  he  does 
not  now  enjoy,  let  him  commence  by  making 
her  the  object  of  his  kind  attentions  and  care, 
and  love  will  spring  up  in  the  heart  as  a  con- 
sequence of  the  kinpL  of  action  of  which  it  is 
more  commonly  the  cause. 

About  a  year  passed  away,  when  at  length 
another  great  celebration  took  place  in  Paris,  to 
honor  the  marriages  of  some  other  members  of 


1559.]             ] 

Misfortunes. 

77 

Grand  tournament. 

Henry's  pride. 

King  Henry's  family.  One  of  them  was  Fran- 
cis's oldest  sister.  A  grand  tournament  was 
arranged  on  this  occasion  too.  The  place  for 
this  tournament  was  where  the  great  street  of 
St.  Antoine  now  lies,  and  which  may  be  found 
on  any  map  of  Paris.  A  very  large  concourse 
of  kings  and  nobles  from  all  the  courts  of  Eu- 
rope were  present.  King  Henry,  magnificently 
dressed,  and  mounted  on  a  superb  war-horse, 
was  a  very  prominent  figure  in  all  the  parades 
of  the  occasion,  though  the  actual  contests  and 
trials  of  skill  which  took  place  were  between 
younger  princes  and  knights,  King  Henry  and 
the  ladies  being  generally  only  spectators  and 
judges.  He,  however,  took  a  part  himself  on 
one  or  two  occasions,  and  received  great  ap- 
plause. 

At  last,  at  the  end  of  the  third  day,  just  as 
the  tournament  was  to  be  closed,  King  Henry 
was  riding  around  the  field,  greatly  excited  with 
the  pride  and  pleasure  which  so  magnificent  a 
spectacle  was  calculated  to  awaken,  when  he 
saw  two  lances  still  remaining  which  had  not 
been  broken.  The  idea  immediately  seized  him 
of  making  one  more  exhibition  of  his  own  power 
and  dexterity  in  such  contests.  He  took  one  of 
the  lances,  and,  directing  a  high  officer  who  was 


78  Mary   Queen  of   Scots.     [1559. 

An  encounter.  The  helmet.  The  vizor. 

riding  near  him  to  take  the  other,  he  challenged 
him  to  a  trial  of  skill.  The  name  of  this  offi- 
cer was  Montgomery.  Montgomery  at  first  de- 
clined, being  unwilling  to  contend  with  his  king. 
The  king  insisted.  Queen  Catharine  begged 
that  he  would  not  contend  again.  Accidents 
sometimes  happened,  she  knew,  in  these  rough 
encounters  ;  and,  at  any  rate,  it  terrified  her  to 
see  her  husband  exposed  to  such  dangers.  The 
other  lords  and  ladies,  and  Francis  and  Queen 
Mary  particularly,  joined  in  these  expostula- 
tions. But  Henry  was  inflexible.  There  was 
no  danger,  and,  smiling  at  their  fears,  he  com- 
manded Montgomery  to  arm  himself  with  his 
lance  and  take  his  position. 

The  spectators  looked  on  in  breathless  si- 
lence. The  two  horsemen  rode  toward  each 
other,  each  pressing  his  horse  forward  to  his 
utmost  speed,  and  as  they  passed,  each  aimed 
his  lance  at  the  head  and  breast  of  the  other. 
It  was  customary  on  such  occasions  to  wear  a 
helmet,  with  a  part  called  a  vizor  in  front,  which 
could  be  raised  on  ordinary  occasions,  or  let  down 
in  moments  of  danger  like  this,  to  cover  and 
protect  the  eyes.  Of  course  this  part  of  the 
armor  was  weaker  than  the  rest,  and  it  hap- 
pened that  Montgomery's  lance  struck  here — 


1559.]  Misfortunes.  79 

King  Henry  wounded.  His  death.  The  mournful  marriage. 

was  shivered — and  a  splinter  of  it  penetrated 
the  vizor  and  inflicted  a  wound  upon  Henry,  on 
the  head,  just  over  the  eye.  Henry's  horse 
went  on.  The  spectators  observed  that  the 
rider  reeled  and  trembled  in  his  seat.  The 
whole  assembly  were  in  consternation.  The  ex- 
citement of  pride  and  pleasure  was  every  where 
turned  into  extreme  anxiety  and  alarm. 

They  nocked  about  Henry's  horse,  and  helped 
the  king  to  dismount.  He  said  it  was  nothing. 
They  took  ofF  his  helmet,  and  found  large  drops 
of  blood  issuing  from  the  wound.  They  bore 
him  to  his  palace.  He  had  the  magnanimity  to 
say  that  Montgomery  must  not  be  blamed  for 
this  result,  as  he  was  himself  responsible  for  it 
entirely.  He  lingered  eleven  days,  and  then 
died.     This  was  in  July,  1559. 

One  of  the  marriages  which  this  unfortunate 
tournament  had  been  intended  to  celebrate,  that 
of  Elizabeth,  the  king's  daughter,  had  already 
taken  place,  having  been  performed  a  day  or  two 
before  the  king  was  wounded ;  and  it  was  de- 
cided, after  Henry  was  wounded,  that  the  oth- 
er must  proceed,  as  there  were  great  reasons  of 
state  against  any  postponement  of  it.  This  sec- 
ond marriage  was  that  of  Margaret,  his  sister. 
The  ceremony  in  her  case  was  performed  in  a 


80  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1559. 

The  dauphin  becomes  king.  Catharine  superseded. 

silent  and  private  manner,  at  night,  by  torch- 
light, in  the  chapel  of  the  palace,  while  her  broth- 
er was  dying.  The  services  were  interrupted 
by  her  sobs  and  tears. 

Notwithstanding  the  mental  and  bodily  fee- 
bleness which  seemed  to  characterize  the  dau- 
phin, Mary's  husband,  who  now,  by  the  death 
of  his  father,  became  King  of  France,  the  event 
of  his  accession  to  the  throne  seemed  to  awaken 
his  energies,  and  arouse  him  to  animation  and 
effort.  He  was  sick  himself,  and  in  his  bed,  in 
a  palace  called  the  Tournelles,  when  some  offi- 
cers of  state  were  ushered  into  his  apartment, 
and,  kneeling  before  him,  saluted  him  as  king. 
This  was  the  first  announcement  of  his  father's 
death.  He  sprang  from  his  bed,  exclaiming  at 
once  that  he  was  well.  It  is  one  of  the  sad  con- 
sequences of  hereditary  greatness  and  power 
that  a  son  must  sometimes  rejoice  at  the  death 
of  his  father. 

It  was  Francis's  duty  to  repair  at  once  to  the 
royal  palace  of  the  Louvre,  with  Mary,  who 
was  now  Queen  of  France  as  well  as  of  Scot- 
land, to  receive  the  homage  of  the  various  estates 
of  the  realm.  Catharine  was,  of  course,  now 
queen  dowager.  Mary,  the  child  whom  she 
had  so  long  looked  upon  with  feelings  of  jeal- 


1559.]  Misfortunes.  81 

Mary's  gentleness.  Coronation  of  Francis. 

ousy  and  envy  was,  from  this  time,  to  take 
her  place  as  queen.  It  was  very  humiliating 
to  Catharine  to  assume  the  position  of  a  second 
and  an  inferior  in  the  presence  of  one  whom  she 
had  so  long  been  accustomed  to  direct  and  to 
command.  She  yielded,  however,  with  a  good 
grace,  though  she  seemed  dejected  and  sad. 
As  they  were  leaving  the  Tournelles,  she  stop- 
ped to  let  Mary  go  before  her,  saying,  "  Pass 
on,  madame ;  it  is  your  turn  to  take  precedence 
now."  Mary  went  before  her,  but  she  stopped 
in  her  turn,  With  a  sweetness  of  disposition  so 
characteristic  of  her,  to  let  Queen  Catharine 
enter  first  into  the  carriage  which  awaited  them 
at  the  door. 

Francis,  though  only  sixteen,  was  entitled  to 
assume  the  government  himself.  He  went  to 
Rheims,  a  town  northeast  of  Paris,  where  is  an 
abbey,  which  is  the  ancient  place  of  coronation 
for  the  kings  of  France.  Here  he  was  crowned. 
He  appointed  his  ministers,  and  evinced,  in  his 
management  and  in  his  measures,  more  energy 
and  decision  than  it  was  supposed  he  possessed. 
He  himself  and  Mary  were  now,  together,  on 
the  summit  of  earthly  grandeur.  They  had 
many  political  troubles  and  cares  which  can 
not  be  related  here,  but  Mary's  life  was  com- 


82  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1559. 

Francis's  health  declines.  Superstition  of  the  people. 

paratively  peaceful  and  happy,  the  pleasures 
which  she  enjoyed  being  greatly  enhanced  by 
the  mutual  affection  which  existed  between  her- 
self and  her  husband. 

Though  he  was  small  hi  stature,  and  very 
unprepossessing  in  appearance  and  manners, 
Francis  still  evinced  in  his  government  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  good  judgment  and  of  ener- 
gy. His  health,  however,  gradually  declined. 
He  spent  much  of  his  time  in  traveling,  and 
was  often  dejected  and  depressed.  One  circum- 
stance made  him  feel  very  unhappy.  The  peo- 
ple of  many  of  the  villages  through  which  he 
passed,  being  in  those  days  very  ignorant  and 
superstitious,  got  a  rumor  into  circulation  that 
the  king's  malady  was  such  that  he  could  only 
be  cured  by  being  bathed  in  the  blood  of  young 
children.  They  imagined  that  he  was  travel- 
ing to  obtain  such  a  bath ;  and,  wherever  he 
came,  the  people  fled,  mothers  eagerly  carry- 
ing off  their  children  from  this  impending  dan- 
ger. The  king  did  not  understand  the  cause 
of  his  being  thus  shunned.  They  concealed  it 
from  him,  knowing  that  it  would  give  him  pain. 
He  knew  only  the  fact,  and  it  made  him  very 
sad  to  find  himself  the  object  of  this  mysterious 
and  unaccountable  aversion. 


1559.]  Misfortunes.  83 

Commotions  in  Scotland.  Sickness  of  the  queen  regent. 

In  the  mean  time,  while  these  occurrences 
had  been  taking  place  in  France,  Mary's  moth- 
er, the  queen  dowager  of  Scotland,  had  been 
made  queen  regent  of  that  country  after  her  re- 
turn from  France  ;  but  she  experienced  infinite 
trouble  and  difficulty  in  managing  the  affairs 
of  the  country.  The  Protestant  party  became 
very  strong,  and  took  up  arms  against  her  gov- 
ernment. The  English  sent  them  aid.  She, 
on  the  other  hand,  with  the  Catholic  interest  to 
support  her,  defended  her  power  as  well  as  she 
could,  and  called  for  help  from  France  to  sus- 
tain her.  And  thus  the  country  which  she  was 
so  ambitious  to  govern,  was  involved  by  her 
management  in  the  calamities  and  sorrows  of 
civil  war. 

In  the  midst  of  this  contest  she  died.  Dur- 
ing her  last  sickness  she  sent  for  some  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Protestant  party,  and  did  all  that 
she  could  to  soothe  and  conciliate  their  minds. 
She  mourned  the  calamities  and  sufferings 
which  the  civil  war  had  brought  upon  the 
country,  and  urged  the  Protestants  to  do  all  in 
their  power,  after  her  death,  to  heal  these  dis- 
sensions and  restore  peace.  She  also  exhorted 
them  to  remember  their  obligations  of  loyalty 
and  obedience  to  their  absent  queen,  and  to  sus- 


84  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1560. 

Death  of  Mary's  mother.  Illness  of  Francis. 

tain  and  strengthen  her  government  by  every 
means  in  their  power.  She  died,  and  after  her 
death  the  war  was  brought  to/  a  close  by  a 
treaty  of  peace,  in  which  the  French  and  En- 
glish governments  joined  with  the  government 
of  Scotland  to  settle  the  points  in  dispute,  and 
immediately  afterward  the  troops  of  both  these 
nations  were  withdrawn.  The  death  of  the 
queen  regent  was  supposed  to  have  been  caused 
by  the  pressure  of  anxiety  which  the  cares  of 
her  government  imposed.  Her  body  was  car- 
ried home  to  France,  and  interred  in  the  royal 
abbey  at  Rheims. 

The  death  of  Mary's  mother  took  place  in  the 
summer  of  1560.  The  next  December  Mary 
was  destined  to  meet  with  a  much  heavier  af- 
fliction. Her  husband,  King  Francis,  in  addi- 
tion to  other  complaints,  had  been  suffering  for 
some  time  from  pain  and  disease  in  the  ear. 
One  day,  when  he  was  preparing  to  go  out  hunt- 
ing, he  was  suddenly  seized  with  a  fainting  fit, 
and  was  soon  found  to  be  in  great  danger.  He 
continued  some  days  very  ill.  He  was  con- 
vinced himself  that  he  could  not  recover,  and 
began  to  make  arrangements  for  his  approach- 
ing end.  As  he  drew  near  to  the  close  of  his 
life,  he  was  more  and  more  deeply  impressed 


1560.]  Misfortunes.  85 

His  last  moments  and  death.  Mary  a  young  widow, 

with  a  sense  of  Mary's  kindness  and  love.  He 
mourned  very  much  his  approaching  separation 
from  her.  He  sent  for  his  mother,  Queen  Cath- 
arine, to  come  to  his  bedside,  and  begged  that 
she  would  treat  Mary  kindly,  for  his  sake,  after 
he  was  gone. 

Mary  was  overwhelmed  with  grief  at  the  ap- 
proaching death  of  her  husband.  She  knew  at 
once  what  a  great  change  it  would  make  in  her 
condition.  She  would  lose  immediately  her 
rank  and  station.  Queen  Catharine  would 
again  come  into  power,  as  queen  regent,  during 
the  minority  of  the  next  heir.  All  her  friends, 
of  the  family  of  Guise,  would  be  removed  from 
office,  and  she  herself  would  become  a  mere 
guest  and  stranger  in  the  land  of  which  she 
had  been  the  queen.  But  nothing  could  arrest 
the  progress  of  the  disease  under  which  her  hus- 
band was  sinking.  He  died,  leaving  Mary  a 
disconsolate  widow  of  seventeen. 

The  historians  of  those  days  say  that  Queen 
Catharine  was  much  pleased  at  the  death  of 
Francis  her  son.  It  restored  her  to  rank  and 
power.  Mary  was  again  beneath  her,  and  in 
some  degree  subject  to  her  will.  All  Mary's 
friends  were  removed  from  their  high  stations, 
and  others,  hostile  to  her  family,  were  put  into 


86  Mary   Queen    of   Scots.     [1560. 

Embassadors  from  Scotland.  Mary's  unwillingness  to  leave  France. 

their  places.  Mary  soon  found  herself  unhappy 
at  court,  and  she  accordingly  removed  to  a  cas- 
tle at  a  considerable  distance  from  Paris  to  the 
west,  near  the  city  of  Orleans.  The  people  of 
Scotland  wanted  her  to  return  to  her  native 
land.  Both  the  great  parties  sent  embassadors 
to  her  to  ask  her  to  return,  each  of  them  urging 
her  to  adopt  such  measures  on  her  arrival  in 
Scotland  as  should  favor  their  cause.  Queen 
Catharine,  too,  who  was  still  jealous  of  Mary's 
influence,  and  of  the  admiration  and  love  which 
her  beauty  and  the  loveliness  of  her  character 
inspired,  intimated  to  her  that  perhaps  it  would 
be  better  for  her  now  to  leave  France  and  return 
to  her  own  land. 

Mary  was  very  unwilling  to  go.  She  loved 
France.  She  knew  very  little  of  Scotland.  She 
was  very  young  when  she  left  it,  and  the  few 
recollections  which  she  had  of  the  country  were 
confined  to  the  lonely  island  of  Inchmahome 
and  the  Castle  of  Stirling.  Scotland  was  in  a 
cold  and  inhospitable  climate,  accessible  only 
through  stormy  and  dangerous  seas,  and  it  seem- 
ecntoher  that  going  there  was  going  into  exile. 
Besides,  she  dreaded  to  undertake  personally  to 
administer  a  government  whose  cares  and  anx- 
ieties had  been  so  great  as  to  carry  her  mother 
to  the  grave. 


1560.]  Misfortunes.  87 

Mary  in  mourning.  She  is  called  the  White  Queen. 

Mary,  however,  found  that  it  was  in  vain  for 
her  to  resist  the  influences  which  pressed  upon 
her  the  necessity  of  returning  to  her  native  land. 
She  wandered  about  during  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer after  her  husband's  death,  spending  her 
time  in  various  palaces  and  abbeys,  and  at 
length  she  began  to  prepare  for  her  return  to 
Scotland.  The  same  gentleness  and  loveliness 
of  character  which  she  had  exhibited  in  her 
prosperous  fortunes,  shone  still  more  conspicu- 
ously now  in  her  hours  of  sorrow.  Sometimes 
she  appeared  in  public,  in  certain  ceremonies 
of  state.  She  was  then  dressed  in  mourning — 
in  white — according  to  the  custom  in  royal  fam- 
ilies in  those  days,  her  dark  hair  covered  by  a 
delicate  crape  veil.  Her  beauty,  softened  and 
chastened  by  her  sorrows,  made  a  strong  im- 
pression upon  all  who  saw  her. 

She  appeared  so  frequently,  and  attracted  so 
much  attention  in  her  white  mourning,  that  she 
began  to  be  known  among  the  people  as  the 
White  Queen.  Every  body  wanted  to  see  her. 
They  admired  her  beauty  ;  they  were  impress- 
ed with  the  romantic  interest  of  her  history  ; 
they  pitied  her  sorrows.  She  mourned  her  hus- 
band's death  with  deep  and  unaffected  grief. 
She  invented  a  device  and  motto  for  a  seal,  ap- 


88  Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1560. 

A  device.  Mary's  employments.  Her  beautiful  hands. 

propriate  to  the  occasion  :  it  was  a  figure  of  the 
liquorice-tree,  every  part  of  which  is  useless  ex- 
cept the  root,  which,  of  course,  lies  beneath  the 
surface  of  the  earth.  Underneath  was  the 
inscription,  in  Latin,  My  treasure  is  in  the 
ground.  The  expression  is  much  more  beau- 
tiful in  the  Latin  than  can  be  expressed  in  any- 
English  words.* 

Mary  did  not,  however,  give  herself  up  to 
sullen  and  idle  grief,  but  employed  herself  in 
various  studies  and  pursuits,  in  order  to  soothe 
and  solace  her  grief  by  useful  occupation.  She 
read  Latin  authors ;  she  studied  poetry ;  she 
composed.  She  paid  much  attention  to  music, 
and  charmed  those  who  were  in  her  company 
by  the  sweet  tones  of  her  voice  and  her  skillful 
performance  upon  an  instrument.  The  histo- 
rians even  record  an  expression  of  the  fascina- 
ting effect  produced  by  the  graceful  movements 
of  her  beautiful  hand.  Whatever  she  did  or 
said  seemed  to  carry  with  it  an  inexpressible 
charm. 

Before  she  set  out  on  her  return  to  Scotland, 
she  went  to  pay  a  visit  to  her  grandmother,  the 
same  lady  whom  her  mother  had  gone  to  see 
in  her  castle,  ten  years  before,  on  her  return  to 

*  Dulce  meum  terra  tegrit. 


1560.]  Misfortunes.  89 

Melancholy  visit.  Mary  returns  to  Paris.  Jealousy. 

Scotland  after  her  visit  to  Mary.  During  this 
ten  years  the  unhappy  mourner  had  made  no 
change  in  respect  to  her  symbols  of  grief.  The 
apartments  of  her  palace  were  still  hung  with 
black.  Her  countenance  wore  the  same  ex- 
pression of  austerity  and  woe.  Her  attendants 
were  trained  to  pay  to  her  all  the  marks  of  the 
most  profound  deference  in  all  their  approaches 
to  her.  No  sounds  of  gayety  or  pleasure  were 
to  be  heard,  but  a  profound  stillness  and  solem- 
nity reigned  continually  throughout  the  gloomy 
mansion. 

Not  long  before  the  arrangements  were  com- 
pleted for  Mary's  return  to  Scotland,  she  revis- 
ited Paris,  where  she  was  received  with  great 
marks  of  attention  and  honor.  She  was  now 
eighteen  or  nineteen  years  of  age,  in  the  bloom 
of  her  beauty,  and  the  monarch  of  a  powerful 
kingdom,  to  which  she  was  about  to  return,  and 
many  of  the  young  princes  of  Europe  began  to 
aspire  to  the  honor  of  her  hand.  Through  these 
and  other  influences,  she  was  the  object  of  much 
attention ;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  Queen 
Catharine,  and  the  party  in  power  at  the  French 
court,  were  envious  and  jealous  of  her  popular- 
ity, and  did  a  great  deal  to  mortify  and  vex  her. 

The  enemy,  however,  whom  Mary  had  most 


90  Mary    Queen    of   Scots.     [1560. 

Queen  Elizabeth.  Her  character.  Henry  VIII. 

to  fear,  was  her  cousin,  Queen  Elizabeth  of  En- 
gland. Queen  Elizabeth  was  a  maiden  lady, 
now  nearly  thirty  years  of  age.  She  was  in  all 
respects  extremely  different  from  Mary.  She 
was  a  zealous  Protestant,  and  very  suspicious 
and  watchful  in  respect  to  Mary,  on  account  of 
her  Catholic  connections  and  faith.  She  was 
very  plain  in  person,  and  unprepossessing  in 
manners.  She  was,  however,  intelligent  and 
shrewd,  and  was  governed  by  calculations  and 
policy  in  all  that  she  did.  The  people  by  whom 
she  was  surrounded  admired  her  talents  and 
feared  her  power,  but  nobody  loved  her.  She 
had  many  good  qualities  as  a  monarch,  but  none 
considered  as  a  woman. 

Elizabeth  was  somewhat  envious  of  her  cous- 
in Mary's  beauty,  and  of  her  being  such  an  ob- 
ject of  interest  and  affection  to  all  who  knew 
her.  But  she  had  a  far  more  serious  and  per- 
manent cause  of  alienation  from  her  than  per- 
sonal envy.  It  was  this :  Elizabeth's  father, 
King  Henry  VIII.,  had,  in  succession,  several 
wives,  and  there  had  been  a  question  raised 
about  the  legality  of  his  marriage  with  Eliza- 
beth's mother.  Parliament  decided  at  one  time 
that  this  marriage  was  not  valid;  at  another 
time,  subsequently,  they  decided  that  it  was. 


Portbait  op  Queen  Elizabeth. 


1560.]  Misfortunes.  93 

Elizabeth's  claim  to  the  throne.         Mary's  claim.     '  The  coat  of  arms. 

This  difference  in  the  two  decisions  was  not 
owing  so  much  to  a  change  of  sentiment  in  the 
persons  who  voted,  as  to  a  change  in  the  ascend- 
ency of  the  parties  by  which  the  decision  was 
controlled.  If  the  marriage  were  valid,  then 
Elizabeth  was  entitled  to  the  English  crown. 
If  it  were  not  valid,  then  she  was  not  entitled 
to  it :  it  belonged  to  the  next  heir.  Now  it 
happened  that  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  was  the 
next  heir.  Her  grandmother  on  the  father's 
side  was  an  English  princess,  and  through  her 
Mary  had  a  just  title  to  the  crown,  if  Queen 
Elizabeth's  title  was  annulled. 

Now,  while  Mary  was  in  France,  during  the 
lifetime  of  King  Henry,  Francis's  father,  he 
and  the  members  of  the  family  of  Guise  ad- 
vanced Mary's  claim  to  the  British  crown,  and 
denied  that  of  Elizabeth.  They  made  a  coat 
of  arms,  in  which  the  arms  of  France,  and  Scot- 
land, and  England  were  combined,  and  had  it 
engraved  on  Mary's  silver  plate.  On  one  great 
occasion,  they  had  this  symbol  displayed  con- 
spicuously over  the  gateway  of  a  town  where 
Mary  was  making  a  public  entry.  The  En- 
glish embassador,  who  was  present,  made  this, 
and  the  other  acts  of  the  same  kind,  known  to 
Elizabeth,   and  she  was  greatly  incensed   at 


94  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1560. 

Elizabeth  offended  and  alarmed.  The  Catholic  party. 

them.  She  considered  Mary  as  plotting  trea- 
sonably against  her  power,  and  began  to  con- 
trive plans  to  circumvent  and  thwart  her. 

Nor  was  Elizabeth  wholly  unreasonable  in 
this.  Mary,  though  personally  a  gentle  and 
peaceful  woman,  yet  in  her  teens,  was  very 
formidable  to  Elizabeth  as  an  opposing  claim- 
ant of  the  crown.  All  the  Catholics  in  France 
and  in  Scotland  would  naturally  take  Mary's 
side.  Then,  besides  this,  there  was  a  large 
Catholic  party  hi  England,  who  would  be  strong- 
ly disposed  to  favor  any  plan  which  should  give 
them  a  Catholic  monarch.  Elizabeth  was, 
therefore,  very  justly  alarmed  at  such  a  claim 
on  the  part  of  her  cousin.  It  threatened  not 
only  to  expose  her  to  the  aggressions  of  foreign 
foes,  but  also  to  internal  commotions  and  dan- 
gers, in  her  own  dominions. 

The  chief  responsibility  for  bringing  forward 
this  claim  must  rest  undoubtedly,  not  on  Mary 
herself,  but  on  King  Henry  of  France  and  the 
other  French  princes,  who  first  put  it  forward. 
Mary,  however,  herself,  was  not  entirely  pass- 
ive in  the  affair.  She  liked  to  consider  her- 
self as  entitled  to  the  English  crown.  She  had 
a  device  for  a  seal,  a  very  favorite  one  with  her, 
which  expressed  this  claim.     It  contained  two 


1560.]  Misfortunes.  95 

A  device.  Treaty  of  Edinburgh.  The  safe-conduct. 

crowns,  with  a  motto  in  Latin  below  which 
meant,  "  A  third  awaits  me."  Elizabeth  knew 
all  these  things,  and  she  held  Mary  accounta- 
ble for  all  the  anxiety  and  alarm  which  this 
dangerous  claim  occasioned  her. 

At  the  peace  which  was  made  in  Scotland 
between  the  French  and  English  forces  and  the 
Scotch,  by  the  treaty  made  at  Edinburgh  which 
has  been  already  described,  it  was  agreed  that 
Mary  should  relinquish  all  claim  to  the  crown 
of  England.  This  treaty  was  brought  to  France 
for  Mary  to  ratify  it,  but  she  declined.  What- 
ever rights  she  might  have  to  the  English 
crown,  she  refused  to  surrender  them.  Things 
remained  in  this  state  until  the  time  arrived  for 
her  return  to  'her  native  land,  and  then,  fearing 
that  perhaps  Elizabeth  might  do  something  to 
intercept  her  passage,  she  applied  to  her  for  a 
safe-conduct ;  that  is,  a  writing  authorizing  her 
to  pass  safely  and  without  hinderance  through 
the  English  dominions,  whether  land  or  sea. 
Queen  Elizabeth  returned  word  through  her 
embassador  in  Paris,  whose  name  was  Throck- 
morton, that  she  could  not  give  her  any  such 
safe-conduct,  because  she  had  refused  to  ratify 
the  treaty  of  Edinburgh. 

When  this  answer  was  communicated  to 


96  Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1561. 

Elizabeth  refuses  the  safe-conduct.  Mary's  speech. 

Mary,  she  felt  deeply  wounded  by  it.  She  sent 
all  the  attendants  away,  that  she  might  express 
herself  to  Throckmorton  without  reserve.  She 
told  him  that  it  seemed  to  her  very  hard  that 
her  cousin  was  disposed  to  prevent  her  return 
to  her  native  land.  As  to  her  claim  upon  the 
English  crown,  she  said  that  advancing  it  was 
not  her  plan,  but  that  of  her  husband  and  his 
father  ;  and  that  now  she  could  not  properly 
renounce  it,  whatever  its  validity  might  be,  till 
she  could  have  opportunity  to  return  to  Scot- 
land and  consult  with  her  government  there, 
since  it  affected  not  her  personally  alone,  but 
the  public  interests  of  Scotland.  "  And  now," 
she  continued,  in  substance,  "  I  am  sorry  that 
I  asked  such  a  favor  of  her.  I  have  no  need  to 
ask  it,  for  I  am  sure  I  have  a  right  to  return 
from  France  to  my  own  country  without  ask- 
ing permission  of  any  one.  You  have  often 
told  me  that  the  queen  wished  to  be  on  friendly 
terms  with  me,  and  that  it  was  your  opinion 
that  to  be  friends  would  be  best  for  us  both 
But  now  I  see  that  she  is  not  of  your  mind, 
but  is  disposed  to  treat  me  in  an  unkind  and 
unfriendly  manner,  while  she  knows  that  I  am 
her  equal  in  rank,  though  I  do  not  pretend  to 
be  her  equal  in  abilities  and  experience.    Well, 


1561.]  Misfortunes.  97 

Mary's  true  nobility  of  soul.  Sympathy  with  her. 

she  may  do  as  she  pleases.  If  my  preparations 
were  not  so  far  advanced,  perhaps  I  should  give 
up  the  voyage.  But  I  am  resolved  to  go.  I 
hope  the  winds  will  prove  favorable,  and  carry 
me  away  from  her  shores.  If  they  carry  me 
upon  them,  and  I  fall  into  her  hands,  she  may 
make  what  disposal  of  me  she  will.  If  I  lose 
my  life,  I  shall  esteem  it  no  great  loss,  for  it  is 
now  little  else  than  a  burden." 

How  strongly  this  speech  expresses  "  that 
mixture  of  melancholy  and  dignity,  of  woman- 
ly softness  and  noble  decision,  which  pervaded 
her  character."  There  is  a  sort  of  gentleness 
even  in  her  anger,  and  a  certain  indescribable 
womanly  charm  in  the  workings  of  her  mind, 
which  cause  all  who  read  her  story,  while  they 
can  not  but  think  that  Elizabeth  was  right,  to 
sympathize  wholly  with  Mary. 

Throckmorton,  at  one  of  his  conversations 
with  Mary,  took  occasion  to  ask  her  respecting 
her  religious  views,  as  Elizabeth  wished  to  know 
how  far  she  was  fixed  and  committed  in  her  at- 
tachment to  the  Catholic  faith,  Mary  said  that 
she  was  born  and  had  been  brought  up  a  Cath- 
olic, and  that  she  should  remain  so  as  long  as 
she  lived.  She  would  not  interfere,  she  said, 
with  her  subjects  adopting  such  form  of  religion 
7 


98 

M 

ARY 

Queen 

of 

Scots. 

[1561. 

Mary's 

religious 

faith. 

Her  frankness 

and  candor. 

as  they  might  prefer,  but  for  herself  she  should 
not  change.  If  she  should  change,  she  said, 
she  should  justly  lose  the  confidence  of  her  peo- 
ple ;  for,  if  they  saw  that  she  was  light  and 
fickle  on  that  subject,  they  could  not  rely  upon 
her  in  respect  to  any  other.  She  did  not  pro- 
fess to  be  able  to  argue,  herself,  the  questions 
of  difference,  but  she  was  not  wholly  uninform- 
ed in  respect  to  them,  as  she  had  often  heard 
the  points  discussed  by  learned  men,  and  had 
found  nothing  to  lead  her  to  change  her  ground. 
It  is  impossible  for  any  reader,  whether  Prot- 
estant or  Catholic,  not  to  admire  the  frankness 
and  candor,  the  honest  conscientiousness,  the 
courage,  and,  at  the  same  time,  womanly  mod- 
esty and  propriety  which  characterize  this  reply 


1561.]       Return    to    Scotland.  99 

Calais.  Artificial  piers  and  breakwaters. 


Chapter  V. 

Return  to  Scotland. 

1%/TARY  was  to  sail  from  the  port  of  Calais. 
-L"-"-  Calais  is  on  the  northern  coast  of  France, 
opposite  to  Dover  in  England,  these  towns  being 
on  opposite  sides  of  the  Straits  of  Dover,  where 
the  channel  between  England  and  France  is 
very  narrow.  Still,  the  distance  is  so  great  that 
the  land  on  either  side  is  ordinarily  not  visible 
on  the  other.  There  is  no  good  natural  harbor 
at  Calais,  nor,  in  fact,  at  any  other  point  on  the 
French  coast.  The  French  have  had  to  supply 
the  deficiency  by  artificial  piers  and  breakwa- 
ters. There  are  several  very  capacious  and  ex- 
cellent harbors  on  the  English  side.  This  may 
have  been  one  cause,  among  others,  of  the  great 
naval  superiority  which  England  has  attained. 
When  Queen  Elizabeth  found  that  Mary 
was  going  to  persevere  in  her  intention  of  re- 
turning to  her  native  land,  she  feared  that  she 
might,  after  her  arrival  in  Scotland,  and  after  get- 
ting established  in  power  there,  form  a  scheme 


100         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.    [1561. 

Queen  Elizabeth's  plan.  Throckmorton. 

for  making  war  upon  her  dominions,  and  at- 
tempt to  carry  into  effect  her  claim  upon  the 
English  crown.  She  wanted  to  prevent  this. 
"Would  it  do  for  her  to  intercept  Mary  upon  her 
passage?  She  reflected  on  this  subject  with 
the  cautious  calculation  which  formed  so  strik- 
ing a  part  of  her  character,  and  felt  in  doubt. 
Her  taking  Mary  a  prisoner,  and  confining  her 
a  captive  in  her  own  land,  might  incense  Queen 
Catharine,  who  was  now  regent  of  France,  and 
also  awaken  a  general  resentment  in  Scotland, 
so  as  to  bring  upon  her  the  hostility  of  those 
two  countries,  and  thus,  perhaps,  make  more 
mischief  than  the  securing  of  Mary's  person 
would  prevent. 

She  accordingly,  as  a  previous  step,  sent  to 
Throckmorton,  her  embassador  in  France,  di- 
recting him  to  have  an  interview  with  Queen 
Catharine,  and  ascertain  how  far  she  would  feel 
disposed  to  take  Mary's  part.  Throckmorton 
did  this.  Queen  Catharine  gave  no  direct  re- 
ply. She  said  that  both  herself  and  the  young 
king  wished  well  to  Elizabeth,  and  to  Mary  too ; 
that  it  was  her  desire  that  the  two  queens  might 
be  on  good  terms  with  each  other ;  that  she  was 
a  friend  to  them  both,  and  should  not  take  a 
part  against  either  of  them. 


1561. J       Return    to    Scotland.  101 

Elizabeth's  plans.  Throckmorton  baffled. 

This  was  all  that  Queen  Elizabeth  could  ex- 
pect, and  she  formed  her  plans  for  intercepting 
Mary  on  her  passage.  She  sent  to  Throck- 
morton, asking  him  to  find  out,  if  he  could,  what 
port  Queen  Mary  was  to  sail  from,  and  to  send 
her  word.  She  then  gave  orders  to  her  naval 
commanders  to  assemble  as  many  ships  as  they 
could,  and  hold  them  in  readiness  to  sail  into 
the  seas  between  England  and  France,  for  the 
purpose  of  exterminating  the  pirates,  which 
she  said  had  lately  become  very  numerous  there. 

Throckmorton  took  occasion,  in  a  conversa- 
tion which  he  had  with  Mary  soon  after  this, 
to  inquire  from  what  port  she  intended  to  sail ; 
but  she  did  not  give  him  the  information.  She 
suspected  his  motive,  and  merely  said,  in  reply 
to  his  question,  that  she  hoped  the  wind  would 
prove  favorable  for  carrying  her  away  as  far  as 
possible  from  the  English  coast,  whatever  might 
be  the  point  from  which  she  should  take  her 
departure.  Throckmorton  then  endeavored  to 
find  out  the  arrangements  of  the  voyage  by  oth- 
er means,  but  without  much  success.  He  wrote 
to  Elizabeth  that  he  thought  Mary  would  sail 
either  from  Havre  or  Calais;  that  she  would  go 
eastward,  along  the  shore  of  the  Continent,  by 
Flanders  and  Holland,  till  she  had  gained  a  con- 


102         Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1561. 

Throckmorton's  advice.  Queen  Catharine's  farewell.  Escort. 

siderable  distance  from  the  English  coast,  and 
then  would  sail  north  along  the  eastern  shores 
of  the  German  Ocean.  He  advised  that  Eliz- 
abeth should  send  spies  to  Calais  and  to  Havre, 
and  perhaps  to  other  French  ports,  to  watch 
there,  and  to  let  her  know  whenever  they  ob- 
served any  appearances  of  preparations  for  Ma- 
ry's departure. 

In  the  mean  time,  as  the  hour  for  Mary's 
farewell  to  Paris,  and  all  its  scenes  of  luxury 
and  splendor,  drew  near,  those  who  had  loved 
her  were  drawn  more  closely  to  her  in  heart  than 
ever,  and  those  who  had  been  envious  and  jeal- 
ous began  to  relent,  and  to  look  upon  her 
with  feelings  of  compassion  and  of  kind  regard. 
Queen  Catharine  treated  her  with  extreme  kind- 
ness during  the  last  few  days  of  her  stay,  and 
she  accompanied  her  for  some  distance  on  her 
journey,  with  every  manifestation  of  sincere  af- 
fection and  good  will.  She  stopped,  at  length, 
at  St.  Germain,  and  there,  with  many  tears, 
she  bade  her  gentle  daughter-in-law  a  long  and 
last  farewell. 

Many  princes  and  nobles,  especially  of  the 
family  of  Guise,  Mary's  relatives,  accompanied 
her  through  the  whole  journey.  They  formed 
quite  a  long  cavalcade,  and  attracted  great  at- 


1561.]       Return    to    Scotland.  103 

Embarkation.  Spectators.  Unfortunate  accident. 

tention  in  all  the  towns  and  districts  through 
which  they  passed.  They  traveled  slowly,  but 
at  length  arrived  at  Calais,  where  they  waited 
nearly  a  week  to  complete  the  arrangements 
for  Mary's  embarkation.  At  length  the  day 
arrived  for  her  to  set  sail.  A  large  concourse 
of  spectators  assembled  to  witness  the  scene. 
Four  ships  had  been  provided  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  the  party  and  their  effects.  Two  of 
these  were  galleys.  They  were  provided  with 
banks  of  oars,  and  large  crews  of  rowers,  by 
means  of  which  the  vessels  could  be  propelled 
when  the  wind  failed.  The  two  other  vessels 
were  merely  vessels  of  burden,  to  carry  the  fur- 
niture and  other  effects  of  the  passengers. 

Many  of  the  queen's  friends  were  to  accom- 
pany her  to  Scotland.  The  four  Maries  were 
among  them.  She  bade  those  that  were  to  re- 
main behind  farewell,  and  prepared  to  embark 
on  board  the  royal  galley.  Her  heart  was  very 
sad.  Just  at  this  time,  a  vessel  which  was  com- 
ing in  struck  against  the  pier,  in  consequence 
of  a  heavy  sea  which  was  rolling  in,  and  of  the 
distraction  of  the  seamen  occasioned  by  Mary's 
embarkation.  The  vessel  which  struck  was  so 
injured  by  the  concussion  that  it  filled  imme- 
diately and  sank.    Most  of  the  seamen  on  board 


104        Mary   Queen    of    Scots.      [1561. 

Mary's  farewell  to  France.  Her  deep  emotion. 

were  drowned.  This  accident  produced  great 
excitement  and  confusion.  Mary  looked  upon 
the  scene  from  the  deck  of  her  vessel,  which 
was  now  slowly  moving  from  the  shore.  It 
alarmed  her,  and  impressed  her  mind  with  a 
sad  and  mournful  sense  of  the  dangers  of  the 
elements  to  whose  mercy  she  was  now  to  be 
committed  for  many  days.  "  What  an  unhap- 
py omen  is  this  !"  she  exclaimed.  She  then 
went  to  the  stern  of  the  ship,  looked  back  at 
the  shore,  then  knelt  down,  and,  covering  her 
face  with  her  hands,  sobbed  aloud.  "  Farewell, 
France  !"  she  exclaimed :  "I  shall  never,  never 
see  thee  more."  Presently,  when  her  emotions 
for  a  moment  subsided,  she  would  raise  her 
eyes,  and  take  another  view  of  the  slowly-re- 
ceding shore,  and  then  exclaim  again,  "Fare- 
well, my  beloved  France  !  farewell !  farewell !" 
She  remained  in  this  position,  suffering  this 
anguish,  for  five  hours,  when  it  began  to  grow 
dark,  and  she  could  no  longer  see  the  shore. 
She  then  rose,  saying  that  her  beloved  country 
was  gone  from  her  sight  forever.  "  The  dark- 
ness, like  a  thick  veil,  hides  thee  from  my  sight, 
and  I  shall  see  thee  no  more.  So  farewell,  be- 
loved land !  farewell  forever  !"  She  left  her 
place  at  the  stern,  but  she  would  not  leave  the 


1561.]       Return    to    Scotland.  107 

Mary's  first  night  on  board.  Her  reluctance  to  leave  France. 

deck.  She  made  them  bring  up  a  bed,  and 
place  it  for  her  there,  near  the  stern.  They 
tried  to  induce  her  to  go  into  the  cabin,  or  at 
least  to  take  some  supper  ;  but  she  would  not. 
She  laid  down  upon  her  bed.  She  charged  the 
helmsman  to  awaken  her  at  the  dawn,  if  the 
land  was  in  sight  when  the  dawn  should  ap- 
pear.    She  then  wept  herself  to  sleep. 

During  the  night  the  air  was  calm,  and  the 
vessels  in  which  Mary  and  her  company  had 
embarked  made  such  small  progress,  being 
worked  only  by  the  oars,  that  the  land  came 
into  view  again  with  the  gray  light  of  the  morn- 
ing. The  helmsman  awoke  Mary,  and  the  sight 
of  the  shore  renewed  her  anguish  and  tears. 
She  said  that  she  could  not  go.  She  wished 
that  Elizabeth's  ships  would  come  in  sight,  so 
as  to  compel  her  squadron  to  return.  But  no 
English  fleet  appeared.  On  the  contrary,  the 
breeze  freshened.  The  sailors  unfurled  the 
sails,  the  oars  were  taken  in,  and  the  great 
crew  of  oarsmen  rested  from  their  toil.  The 
ships  began  to  make  their  way  rapidly  through 
the  rippling  water.  The  land  soon  became  a 
faint,  low  cloud  in  the  horizon,  and  in  an  hour 
all  traces  of  it  entirely  disappeared. 

The  voyage  continued  for  ten  days.     They 


108 

Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1561. 

Fog. 

One  vessel  captured.                           Narrow  escape. 

saw  nothing  of  Elizabeth's  cruisers.  It  was 
afterward  ascertained,  however,  that  these 
ships  were  at  one  time  very  near  to  them,  and 
were  only  prevented  from  seeing  and  taking 
them  by  a  dense  fog,  which  at  that  time  hap- 
pened to  cover  the  sea.  One  of  the  vessels  of 
burden  was  seen  and  taken,  and  carried  to  En- 
gland. It  contained,  however,  only  some  of 
Mary's  furniture  and  effects.  She  herself  es- 
caped the  danger. 

The  fog,  which  was  thus  Mary's  protection 
at  one  time,  was  a  source  of  great  difficulty  and 
danger  at  another ;  for,  when  they  were  draw- 
ing near  to  the  place  of  their  landing  in  Scot- 
land, they  were  enveloped  in  a  fog  so  dense  that 
they  could  scarcely  see  from  one  end  of  the  ves- 
sel to  the  other.  They  stopped  the  progress  of 
their  vessels,  and  kept  continually  sounding; 
and  when  at  length  the  fog  cleared  away,  they 
found  themselves  involved  in  a  labyrinth  of 
rocks  and  shoals  of  the  most  dangerous  char- 
acter. They  made  their  escape  at  last,  and 
went  on  safely  toward  the  land.  Mary  said, 
however,  that  she  felt,  at  the  time,  entirely  in- 
different as  to  the  result.  She  was  so  discon- 
solate and  wretched  at  having  parted  forever 
from  all  that  was  dear  to  her,  that  it  seemed  to 


1561.]       Return    to    Scotland.  109 

Mary's  Adieu  to  France.  Attempts  to  translate  it. 

her  that  she  was  equally  willing  to  live  or  to 
die. 

Mary,  who,  among  her  other  accomplish- 
ments, had  a  great  deal  of  poetic  talent,  wrote 
some  lines,  called  her  Farewell  to  France, 
which  have  been  celebrated  from  that  day  to 
this.     This  is  the  song : 

Adieu. 
Adieu,  plaisant  pays  de  France  ! 
O  ma  patrie, 
La  plus  cherie ; 
Qui  a  nourri  ma  jeune  enfance. 
Adieu,  France  !  adieu,  mes  beaux  jours  ! 
La  nef  qui  dejoint  mes  amours, 
N'a  cy  de  moi  que  la  moitie ; 
Une  parte  te  reste  ;  elle  est  tienne  ; 
Je  la  fie  a  ton  amitie, 
Pour  que  de  1' autre  il  te  souvienne. 

Many  persons  have  attempted  to  translate 
this  song  into  English  verse ;  but  it  is  always 
extremely  difficult  to  translate  poetry  from  one 
language  to  another.  We  give  here  two  of  the 
best  of  these  translations.  The  reader  can 
judge,  by  observing  how  different  they  are  from 
each  other,  how  different  they  must  both  be 
from  their  common  original. 


110         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1561. 

Translations  of  Mary's  Adieu  to  France. 

Adieu. 

Farewell  to  thee,  thou  pleasant  shore, 
The  loved,  the  cherished  home  to  me 

Of  infant  joy,  a  dream  that's  o'er, 

Farewell,  dear  France !  farewell  to  thee  ! 

The  sail  that  wafts  me  bears  away 
From  thee  but  half  my  soul  alone ; 

Its  fellow  half  will  fondly  stay, 

And  back  to  thee  has  faithful  flown. 

I  trust  it  to  thy  gentle  care ; 

For  all  that  here  remains  with  me 
Lives  but  to  think  of  all  that's  there, 

To  love  and  to  remember  thee. 

The  other  translation  is  as  follows : 
Adieu. 

Adieu,  thou  pleasant  land  of  France  ! 

The  dearest  of  all  lands  to  me, 
Where  life  was  like  a  joyful  dance, 

The  joyful  dance  of  infancy. 

Farewell  my  childhood's  laughing  wiles, 
Farewell  the  joys  of  youth's  bright  day ; 

The  bark  that  takes  me  from  thy  smiles, 
Bears  but  my  meaner  half  away. 


1561.]         Return    to    Scotland.         Ill 

Arrival  at  Leith.        Palace  of  Holyrood.        Mary's  arrival  unexpected. 

The  best  is  thine ;  my  changeless  heart 
Is  given,  beloved  France,  to  thee  ; 

And  let  it  sometimes,  though  we  part, 
Remind  thee,  with  a  sigh,  of  me. 

It  was  on  the  19th  of  August,  1561,  that  the 
two  galleys  arrived  at  Leith.  Leith  is  a  small 
port  on  the  shore  of  the  Frith  of  Forth,  about 
two  miles  from  Edinburgh,  which  is  situated 
somewhat  inland.  The  royal  palace,  where 
Mary  was  to  reside,  was  called  the  Palace  of 
Holyrood.  It  was,  and  is  still,  a  large  square 
building,  wifh  an  open  court  in  the  center,  into 
which  there  is  access  for  carriages  through  a 
large  arched  passage-way  in  the  center  of  the 
principal  front  of  the  building.  In  the  rear,  but 
connected  with  the  palace,  there  was  a  chapel 
in  Mary's  day,  though  it  is  now  in  ruins.  The 
walls  still  remain,  but  the  roof  is  gone.  The 
people  of  Scotland  were  not  expecting  Mary 
so  soon.  Information  was  communicated  from 
country  to  country,  in  those  days,  slowly  and 
with  great  difficulty.  Perhaps  the  time  of  Ma- 
ry's departure  from  France  was  purposely  con- 
cealed even  from  the  Scotch,  to  avoid  all  possi- 
bility that  the  knowledge  of  it  should  get  into 
Elizabeth's  possession. 


112         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1561 

Mary's  reception.  Contrasts.  The  cavalcade. 

At  any  rate,  the  first  intelligence  which  the 
inhabitants  of  Edinburgh  and  the  vicinity  had 
of  the  arrival  of  their  queen,  was  the  approach 
of  the  galleys  to  the  shore,  and  the  firing  of  a 
royal  salute  from  their  guns.  The  Palace  of 
Holyrood  was  not  ready  for  Mary's  reception, 
and  she  had  to  remain  a  day  at  Leith,  awaiting 
the  necessary  preparations.  In  the  mean  time, 
the  whole  population  began  to  assemble  to  wel- 
come her  arrival.  Military  bands  were  turned 
out ;  banners  were  provided ;  civil  and  military 
officers  in  full  costume  assembled,  and  bon-fires 
and  illuminations  were  provided  for  the  evening 
and  night.  In  a  word,  Mary's  subjects  in  Scot- 
land did  all  hi  their  power  to  do  honor  to  the 
occasion ;  but  the  preparations  were  so  far  be- 
neath the  pomp  and  pageantry  which  she  had 
been  accustomed  to  in  France,  that  she  felt  the 
contrast  very  keenly,  and  realized,  more  forci- 
bly than  ever,  how  great  was  the  change  which 
the  circumstances  of  her  life  were  undergoing. 

Horses  were  prepared  for  Mary  and  her  large 
company  of  attendants,  to  ride  from  Leith  to 
Edinburgh.  The  long  cavalcade  moved  toward 
evening.  The  various  professions  and  trades 
of  Edinburgh  were  drawn  up  in  lines  on  each 
side  of  the  road,  and  thousands  upon  thousands 


il 


1561.]       Return    to    Scotland.  115 

Serenade.  Solitary  home.  Favorable  impression. 

of  other  spectators  assembled  to  witness  the 
scene.  When  she  reached  the  Palace  of  Holy- 
rood  House,  a  band  of  music  played  for  a  time 
under  her  windows,  and  then  the  great  throng 
quietly  dispersed,  leaving  Mary  to  her  repose. 
The  adjoining  engraving  represents  the  Palace 
of  Holyrood  as  it  now  appears.  In  Mary's  day, 
the  northern  part  only  had  been  built — that  is, 
the  part  on  the  left,  in  the  view,  where  the  ivy 
climbs  about  the  windows — and  the  range  ex- 
tending back  to  the  royal  chapel,  the  ruins  of 
which  are  seen  in  the  rear.%  Mary  took  up 
her  abode  in  this  dwelling,  and  was  glad  to  rest 
from  the  fatigues  and  privations  of  her  long  voy- 
age ;  but  she  found  her  new  home  a  solitary 
and  gloomy  dwelling,  compared  with  the  mag- 
nificent palaces  of  the  land  she  had  left. 

Mary  made  an  extremely  favorable  impres- 
sion upon  her  subjects  in  Scotland.  To  please 
them,  she  exchanged  the  white  mourning  of 
France,  from  which  she  had  taken  the  name  of 
the  White  Queen,  for  a  black  dress,  more  ac- 
cordant with  the  ideas  and  customs  of  her  na- 
tive land.  This  gave  her  a  more  sedate  and 
matronly  character,  and  though  the  expression 

*  For  the  situation  of  this  palace  in  respect  to  Edinburgh, 
see  the  view  of  Edinburgh,  page  179. 


116         Mary   Queen   of   Scots.     [1561. 

The  Lord  James.  Mary  makes  him  one  of  her  ministers. 

of  her  countenance  and  figure  was  somewhat 
changed  by  it,  it  was  only  a  change  to  a  new 
form  of  extreme  and  fascinating  beauty.  Her 
manners,  too,  so  graceful  and  easy,  and  yet  so 
simple  and  unaffected,  charmed  all  who  saw  her. 

Mary  had  a  half  brother  in  Scotland,  whose 
title  was  at  this  time  the  Lord  James.  He 
was  afterward  named  the  Earl  of  Murray,  and 
is  commonly  known  in  history  under  this  latter 
designation.  The  mother  of  Lord  James  was 
not  legally  married  to  Mary's  father,  and  con- 
sequently he  could  not  inherit  any  of  his  fa- 
ther's rights  to  the  Scottish  crown.  The  Lord 
James  was,  however,  a  man  of  very  high  rank 
and  influence,  and  Mary  immediately  received 
him  into  her  service,  and  made  him  one  of  her 
highest  ministers  of  state.  He  was  now  about 
thirty  years  of  age,  prudent,  cautious,  and  wise, 
of  good  person  and  manners,  but  somewhat  re- 
served and  austere. 

Lord  James  had  the  general  direction  of  af- 
fairs on  Mary's  arrival,  and  things  went  on 
very  smoothly  for  a  week ;  but  then,  on  the 
first  Sunday  after  the  landing,  a  very  serious 
difficulty  threatened  to  occur.  The  Catholics 
have  a  certain  celebration,  called  the  mass,  to 
which  they  attach  a  very  serious  and  solemn 


1561.]       Return   to    Scotland.  117 

The  mass.  Transubstantiatiort. 

importance.  When  our  Savior  gave  the  bread 
and  the  wine  to  his  disciples  at  the  Last  Sup- 
per, he  said  of  it,  "  This  is  my  body,  broken  for 
you,"  and  "  This  is  my  blood,  shed  for  you." 
The  Catholics  understand  that  these  words  de- 
note that  the  bread  and  wine  did  at  that  time, 
and  that  they  do  now,  whenever  the  communion 
service  is  celebrated  by  a  priest  duly  author- 
ized, become,  by  a  sort  of  miraculous  trans- 
formation, the  true  body  and  blood  of  Christ, 
and  that  the  priest,  in  breaking  the  one  and 
pouring  out,  the  other,  is  really  and  truly  re- 
newing the  great  sacrifice  for  sin  made  by  Je- 
sus Christ  at  his  crucifixion.  The  mass,  there- 
fore, in  which  the  bread  and  the  wine  are  so 
broken  and  poured  out,  becomes,  in  their  view, 
not  a  mere  service  of  prayer  and  praise  to  God, 
but  a  solemn  act  of  sacrifice.  The  spectators, 
or  assistants,  as  they  call  them,  meaning  all 
who  are  present  on  the  occasion,  stand  by,  not 
merely  to  hear  words  of  adoration,  in  which  they 
mentally  join,  as  is  the  case  in  most  Protestant 
forms  of  worship,  but  to  witness  the  enactment 
of  a  deed,  and  one  of  great  binding  force  and 
validity :  a  real  and  true  sacrifice  of  Christ, 
made  anew,  as  an  atonement  for  their  sins. 
The  bread,  when  consecrated,  and,  as  they  sup- 


118         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1561. 

Adoration  of  the  host.  Protestant  and  Catholic  worship. 

pose,  transmuted  to  the  body  of  Christ,  is  held 
up  to  view,  or  carried  in  a  procession  around 
the  church,  that  all  present  may  bow  before  it, 
and  adore  it  as  really  being,  though  in  the  form 
of  bread,  the  wounded  and  broken  body  of  the 
Lord. 

Of  course  the  celebration  of  the  mass  is  in- 
vested, in  the  minds  of  all  conscientious  Cath- 
olics, with  the  utmost  solemnity  and  import- 
ance. They  stand  silently  by,  with  the  deep- 
est feelings  of  reverence  and  awe,  while  the 
priest  offers  up  for  them,  anew,  the  great  sac- 
rifice for  sin.  They  regard  all  Protestant  wor- 
ship, which  consists  of  mere  exhortations  to 
duty,  hymns  and  prayers,  as  lifeless  and  void. 
That  which  is  to  them  the  soul,  the  essence, 
and  substance  of  the  whole,  is  wanting.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Protestants  abhor  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  mass  as  gross  superstition.  They 
think  that  the  bread  remains  simply  bread  after 
the  benediction  as  much  as  before ;  that  for  the 
priests  to  pretend  that  in  breaking  it  they  re- 
new the  sacrifice  of  Christ,  is  imposture ;  and 
that  to  bow  before  it  in  adoration  and  homage 
is  the  worst  idolatry. 

Now  it  happened  that  during  Mary's  absence 
in  France,  the  contest  between  the  Catholics 


1561.]       Return   to    Scotland.  119 

Violence  and  persecution.  The  mass  in  Mary's  chapeL 

and  the  Protestants  had  been  going  fiercely  on, 
and  the  result  had  been  the  almost  complete 
defeat  of  the  Catholic  party,  and  the  establish- 
ment of  the  Protestant  interest  throughout  the 
realm.  A  great  many  deeds  of  violence  accom- 
panied this  change.  Churches  and  abbeys  were 
sometimes  sacked  and  destroyed.  The  images 
of  saints,  which  the  Catholics  had  put  up,  were 
pulled  down  and  broken ;  and  the  people  were 
sometimes  worked  up  to  phrensy  against  the 
principles  of  the  Catholic  faith  and  Catholic  ob- 
servances. t  They  abhorred  the  mass,  and  were 
determined  that  it  should  not  be  introduced 
again  into  Scotland. 

Queen  Mary,  knowing  this  state  of  things, 
determined,  on  her  arrival  in  Scotland,  not  to 
interfere  with  her  people  in  the  exercise  of  their 
religion ;  but  she  resolved  to  remain  a  Catholic 
herself,  and  to  continue,  for  the  use  of  her  own 
household,  in  the  royal  chapel  at  Holyrood,  the 
same  Catholic  observances  to  which  she  had 
been  accustomed  in  France.  She  accordingly 
gave  orders  that  mass  should  be  celebrated  in 
her  chapel  on  the  first  Sunday  after  her  arriv- 
al. She  was  very  willing  to  abstain  from  inter- 
fering with  the  religious  usages  of  her  subjects, 
but  she  was  not  willing  to  give  up  her  own. 


120         Mary  Queen    of    Scots.     [1561 

Scene  of  excitement.  Lord  James. 

The  friends  of  the  Reformation  had  a  meet- 
ing, and  resolved  that  mass  should  not  be  cele- 
brated. There  was,  however,  no  way  of  pre- 
venting it  but  by  intimidation  or  violence. 
When  Sunday  came,  crowds  began  to  assem- 
ble about  the  palace  and  the  chapel,*  and  to 
fill  all  the  avenues  leading  to  them.  The  Cath- 
olic families  who  were  going  to  attend  the  ser- 
vice were  treated  rudely  as  they  passed.  The 
priests  they  threatened  with  death.  One,  who 
carried  a  candle  which  was  to  be  used  in  the 
ceremonies,  was  extremely  terrified  at  their 
threats  and  imprecations.  The  excitement 
was  very  great,  and  would  probably  have  pro- 
ceeded to  violent  extremities,  had  it  not  been 
for  Lord  James's  energy  and  courage.  He  was 
a  Protestant,  but  he  took  his  station  at  the  door 
of  the  chapel,  and,  without  saying  or  doing  any 
thing  to  irritate  the  crowd  without,  he  kept 
them  at  bay,  while  the  service  proceeded.  It 
went  on  to  the  close,  though  greatly  interrupt- 
ed by  the  confusion  and  uproar.  Many  of  the 
French  people  who  came  with  Mary  were  so 
terrified  by  this  scene,  that  they  declared  they 


*  The  ruins  of  the  royal  chapel  are  to  be  seen  in  the  real 
of  the  palace  in  the  view  on  page  114. 


1561.]       Return    to    Scotland.  121 

The  reformer,  John  Knox.  His  uncompromising  character. 

would  not  stay  in  such  a  country,  and  took  the 
first  opportunity  of  returning  to  France. 

One  of  the  most  powerful  and  influential  of 
the  leaders  of  the  Protestant  party  at  this  time 
was  the  celebrated  John  Knox.  He  was  a  man 
of  great  powers  of  mind  and  of  commanding  elo- 
quence ;  and  he  had  exerted  a  vast  influence 
in  arousing  the  people  of  Scotland  to  a  feeling 
of  strong  abhorrence  of  what  they  considered 
the  abominations  of  popery.  When  Queen 
Mary  of  England  was  upon  the  throne,  Knox 
had  written  a  book  against  her,  and  against 
queens  in  general,  women  having,  according  to 
his  views,  no  right  to  govern.  Knox  was  a  man 
of  the  most  stern  and  uncompromising  charac- 
ter, who  feared  nothing,  respected  nothing,  and 
submitted  to  no  restraints  in  the  blunt  and 
plain  discharge  of  what  he  considered  his  duty. 
Mary  dreaded  his  influence  and  power. 

Knox  had  an  interview  with  Mary  not  long 
after  his  arrival,  and  it  is  one  of  the  most  strik- 
ing instances  of  the  strange  ascendency  which 
Mary's  extraordinary  beauty  and  grace,  and 
the  pensive  charm  of  her  demeanor,  exercised 
over  all  that  came  within  her  influence,  that 
even  John  Knox,  whom  nothing  else  could  soft- 
en or  subdue,  found  his  rough  and  indomitable 


122         Mary  Queen   of    Scots.     [1561. 

Knox's  interview  with  Mary.  His  sternness  subdued. 

energy  half  forsaking  him  in  the  presence  of 
his  gentle  queen.  She  expostulated  with  him. 
He  half  apologized.  Nothing  had  ever  drawn 
the  least  semblance  of  an  apology  from  him  be- 
fore. He  told  her  that  his  book  was  aimed 
solely  against  Queen  Mary  of  England,  and 
not  against  her ;  that  she  had  no  cause  to  fear 
its  influence ;  that,  in  respect  to  the  freedom 
with  which  he  had  advanced  his  opinions  and 
theories  on  the  subjects  of  government  and  re- 
ligion, she  need  not  be  alarmed,  for  philoso- 
phers had  always  done  this  in  every  age,  and 
yet  had  lived  good  citizens  of  the  state,  whose 
institutions  they  had,  nevertheless,  in  some 
sense  theoretically  condemned.  He  told  her, 
moreover,  that  he  had  no  intention  of  troubling 
her  reign  ;  that  she  might  be  sure  of  this,  since, 
if  he  had  such  a  desire,  he  should  have  com- 
menced his  measures  during  her  absence,  and 
not  have  postponed  them  until  her  position  on 
the  throne  was  strengthened  by  her  return. 
Thus  he  tried  to  soothe  her  fears,  and  to  justi- 
fy himself  from  the  suspicion  of  having  design- 
ed any  injury  to  such  a  gentle  and  helpless 
queen.  The  interview  was  a  very  extraordi- 
nary spectacle.  It  was  that  of  a  lion  laying 
aside  his  majestic  sternness  and  strength  to 


1561.]       Return   to    Scotland.  123 

The  four  Maries.  Queen  Elizabeth's  insincerity. 

dispel  the  fears  and  quiet  the  apprehensions  of 
a  dove.  The  interview  was,  however,  after  all, 
painful  and  distressing  to  Mary.  Some  things 
which  the  stern  reformer  felt  it  his  duty  to  say 
to  her,  brought  tears  into  her  eyes. 

Mary  soon  became  settled  in  her  new  home, 
though  many  circumstances  in  her  situation 
were  well  calculated  to  disquiet  and  disturb 
her.  She  lived  in  the  palace  at  Holyrood. 
The  four  Maries  continued  with  her  for  a  time, 
and  then  two  of  them  were  married  to  nobles 
of  high  rank.  Queen  Elizabeth  sent  Mary  a 
kind  message,  congratulating  her  on  her  safe 
arrival  in  Scotland,  and  assuring  her  that  the 
story  of  her  having  attempted  to  intercept  her 
was  false.  Mary,  who  had  no  means  of  prov- 
ing Elizabeth's  insincerity,  sent  her  back  a  po- 
lite reply. 


124        Mary    Queen   of    Scots.     [1562 

Stormy  scenes.  Lord  James.  Acts  of  cruelty. 


Chapter   VI. 
Mary   and    Lord   Darnley. 

CAUSING  the  three  or  four  years  which 
*-^  elapsed  after  Queen  Mary's  arrival  in 
Scotland,  she  had  to  pass  through  many  stormy 
scenes  of  anxiety  and  trouble.  The  great  no- 
bles of  the  land  were  continually  quarreling, 
and  all  parties  were  earnest  and  eager  in  their 
efforts  to  get  Mary's  influence  and  power  on 
their  side.  She  had  a  great  deal  of  trouble 
with  the  affairs  of  her  brother,  the  Lord  James. 
He  wanted  to  have  the  earldom  of  Murray  con- 
ferred upon  him.  The  castle  and  estates  per- 
taining to  this  title  were  in  the  north  of  Scot- 
land, in  the  neighborhood  of  Inverness.  They 
were  in  possession  of  another  family,  who  re- 
fused to  give  them  up.  Mary  accompanied 
Lord  James  to  the  north  with  an  army,  to  put 
him  in  possession.  They  took  the  castle,  and 
hung  the  governor,  who  had  refused  to  surren- 
der at  their  summons.  This,  and  some  other 
acts  of  this  expedition,  have  since  been  consid- 
ered unjust  and  cruel ;  but  posterity  have  been 


1562.]  Mary  and  Lord  Darnley.       125 

Mary's  energy  and  decision.  Her  popularity. 

divided  in  opinion  on  the  question  how  far  Mary 
herself  was  personally  responsible  for  them. 

Mary,  at  any  rate,  displayed  a  great  degree 
of  decision  and  energy  in  her  management  of 
public  affairs,  and  in  the  personal  exploits  which 
she  performed.  She  made  excursions  from  cas- 
tle to  castle,  and  from  town  to  town,  all  over 
Scotland.  On  these  expeditions  she  traveled 
on  horseback,  sometimes  with  a  royal  escort, 
and  sometimes  at  the  head  of  an  army  of  eight- 
een or  twenty  thousand  men.  These  royal 
progresses  were  extended  both  to  the  great 
towns  and  cities  on  the  eastern  coast  of  Scot- 
land, and  also,  at  other  times,  among  the  gloomy 
and  dangerous  denies  of  the  Highlands.  Occa- 
sionally she  would  pay  visits  to  the  nobles  at 
their  castles,  to  hunt  in  their  parks,  to  review 
their  Highland  retainers,  or  to  join  them  in  cel- 
ebrations and  fetes,  and  military  parades. 

During  all  this  time,  her  personal  influence 
and  ascendency  over  all  who  knew  her  was  con- 
stantly increasing ;  and  the  people  of  Scotland, 
notwithstanding  the  disagreement  on  the  sub- 
ject of  religion,  became  more  and  more  devoted 
to  their  queen.  The  attachment  which  those 
who  were  in  immediate  attendance  upon  her 
felt  to  her  person  and  character,  was  in  many 


126         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1562. 

Story  of  Chatelard.  His  love  and  infatuation. 

cases  extreme.  In  one  instance,  this  attach- 
ment led  to  a  very  sad  result.  There  was  a 
young  Frenchman,  named  Chatelard,  who  came 
in  Mary's  train  from  France.  He  was  a  schol- 
ar and  a  poet.  He  began  by  writing  verses  in 
Mary's  praise,  which  Mary  read,  and  seemed  to 
be  pleased  with.  This  increased  his  interest  in 
her,  and  led  him  to  imagine  that  he  was  him- 
self the  object  of  her  kind  regard.  Finally,  the 
love  which  he  felt  for  her  came  to  be  a  perfect 
infatuation.  He  concealed  himself  one  night 
in  Mary's  bed-chamber,  armed,  as  if  to  resist 
any  attack  which  the  attendants  might  make 
upon  him.  He  was  discovered  by  the  female 
attendants,  and  taken  away,  and  they,  for  fear 
of  alarming  Mary,  did  not  tell  her  of  the  cir- 
cumstance till  the  next  morning. 

Mary  was  very  much  displeased,  or,  at  least, 
professed  to  be  so.  John  Knox  thought  that 
this  displeasure  was  only  a  pretense.  She,  how- 
ever, forbid  Chatelard  to  come  any  more  into 
her  sight.  A  day  or  two  after  this,  Mary  set 
out  on  a  journey  to  the  north.  Chatelard  fol- 
lowed. He  either  believed  that  Mary  really 
loved  him,  or  else  he  was  led  on  by  that  strange 
and  incontrollable  infatuation  which  so  often,  in 
such  cases,  renders  even  the  wisest  men  utterly 


1563.]  Mary  and  Lord  Darnley.      127 

Trial  of  Chatelard.  His  execution  and  last  words. 

reckless  and  blind  to  the  consequences  of  what 
they  say  or  do.  He  watched  his  opportunity, 
and  one  night,  when  Mary  retired  to  her  bed- 
room, he  followed  her  directly  in.  Mary  called 
for  help.  The  attendants  came  in,  and  imme- 
diately sent  for  the  Earl  of  Murray,  who  was 
in  the  palace.  Chatelard  protested  that  all  he 
wanted  was  to  explain  and  apologize  for  his 
coming  into  Mary's  room  before,  and  to  ask  her 
to  forgive  him.  Mary,  however,  would  not  lis- 
ten. She  was  very  much  incensed.  When 
Murray  came  in,  she  directed  him  to  run  his 
dagger  through  the  man.  Murray,  however, 
instead  of  doing  this,  had  the  offender  seized 
and  sent  to  prison.  In  a  few  days  he  was  tried, 
and  condemned  to  be  beheaded.  The  excite- 
ment and  enthusiasm  of  his  love  continued  to 
the  last.  He  stood  firm  and  undaunted  on  the 
scaffold,  and,  just  before  he  laid  his  head  on  the 
block,  he  turned  toward  the  place  where  Mary 
was  then  lodging,  and  said,  "  Farewell !  love- 
liest and  most  cruel  princess  that  the  world 
contains !" 

In  the  mean  time,  Mary  and  Queen  Eliza- 
beth continued  ostensibly  on  good  terms.  They 
sent  embassadors  to  each  other's  courts.  They 
communicated  letters  and  messages  to  each  oth- 


128         Mary   Queen   of   Scots.     [1563. 

Mary  and  Elizabeth.  The  English  succession. 

er,  and  entered  into  various  negotiations  re- 
specting the  affairs  of  their  respective  king- 
doms. The  truth  was,  each  was  afraid  of  the 
other,  and  neither  dared  to  come  to  an  open 
rupture.  Elizabeth  was  uneasy  on  account  of 
Mary's  claim  to  her  crown,  and  was  very  anx- 
ious to  avoid  driving  her  to  extremities,  since 
she  knew  that,  in  that  case,  there  would  be 
great  danger  of  her  attempting  openly  to  en- 
force it.  Mary,  on  the  other  hand,  thought  that 
there  was  more  probability  of  her  obtaining  the 
succession  to  the  English  crown  by  keeping 
peace  with  Elizabeth  than  by  a  quarrel.  Eliz- 
abeth was  not  married,  and  was  likely  to  live 
and  die  single.  Mary  would  then  be  the  next 
heir,  without  much  question.  She  wanted  Eliz- 
abeth to  acknowledge  this,  and  to  have  the  En- 
glish Parliament  enact  it.  If  Elizabeth  would 
take  this  course,  Mary  was  willing  to  waive 
her  claims  during  Elizabeth's  life.  Elizabeth, 
however,  was  not  willing  to  do  this  decidedly. 
She  wanted  to  reserve  the  right  to  herself  of 
marrying  if  she  chose.  She  also  wanted  to 
keep  Mary  dependent  upon  her  as  long  as  she 
could.  Hence,  while  she  would  not  absolutely 
refuse  to  comply  with  Mary's  proposition,  she 
would  not  really  accede  to  it,  but  kept  the  whole 


1563.]  Mary  and   Lord  Darnley.      129 

Claim  of  Lady  Lennox.  Lord  Darnley. 

matter  in  suspense  by  endless  procrastination, 
difficulties,  and  delays. 

I  have  said  that,  after  Elizabeth,  Mary's  claim 
to  the  British  crown  was  almost  unquestioned. 
There  was  another  lady  about  as  nearly  related 
to  the  English  royal  line  as  Mary.  Her  name 
was  Margaret  Stuart.  Her  title  was  Lady 
Lennox.  She  had  a  son  named  Henry  Stuart, 
whose  title  was  Lord  Darnley.  It  was  a  ques- 
tion whether  Mary  or  Margaret  were  best  enti- 
tled to  consider  herself  the  heir  to  the  British 
crown  after  Elizabeth.  Mary,  therefore,  had 
two  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  accomplishment 
of  her  wishes  to  be  Queen  of  England :  one  was 
the  claim  of  Elizabeth,  who  was  already  in  pos- 
session of  the  throne,  and  the  other  the  claims  of 
Lady  Lennox,  and,  after  her,  of  her  son  Darnley. 
There  was  a  plan  of  disposing  of  this  last  diffi- 
culty in  a  very  simple  manner.  It  was,  to  have 
Mary  marry  Lord  Darnley,  and  thus  unite  these 
two  claims.  This  plan  had  been  proposed,  but 
there  had  been  no  decision  in  respect  to  it. 
There  was  one  objection  :  that  Darnley  being 
Mary's  cousin,  their  marriage  was  forbidden  by 
the  laws  of  the  Catholic  Church.  There  was 
no  way  of  obviating  this  difficulty  but  by  ap- 
plying to  the  pope  to  grant  them  a  special  dis- 
pensation. 9 


130         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1563 

Offers  of  marriage.  Duplicity  of  Elizabeth. 

In  the  mean  time,  a  great  many  other  plans 
were  formed  for  Mary's  marriage.  Several  of 
the  princes  and  potentates  of  Europe  applied  for 
her  hand.  They  were  allured  somewhat,  no 
doubt,  by  her  youth  and  beauty,  and  still  more, 
very  probably,  by  the  desire  to  annex  her  king- 
dom to  their  dominions.  Mary,  wishing  to 
please  Elizabeth,  communicated  often  with  her, 
to  ask  her  advice  and  counsel  in  regard  to  her 
marriage.  Elizabeth's  policy  was  to  embarrass 
and  perplex  the  whole  subject  by  making  diffi- 
culties in  respect  to  every  plan  proposed.  Fi- 
nally, she  recommended  a  gentleman  of  her  own 
court  to  Mary — Robert  Dudley,  whom  she  aft- 
erward made  Earl  of  Leicester — one  of  her  spe- 
cial favorites.  The  position  of  Dudley,  and  the 
circumstances  of  the  case,  were  such  that  man- 
kind have  generally  supposed  that  Elizabeth 
did  not  seriously  imagine  that  such  a  plan  could 
be  adopted,  but  that  she  proposed  it,  as  per- 
verse and  intriguing  people  often  do,  as  a  means 
of  increasing  the  difficulty.  Such  minds  often 
attempt  to  prevent  doing  what  can  be  done  by 
proposing  and  urging  what  they  know  is  im- 
possible. 

In  the  course  of  these  negotiations,  Queen 
Mary  once  sent  Melville,  her  former  page  of 


1564.]  Mary  and  Lord  1)arnley.      131 

Melville  sent  as  embassador  to  Elizabeth.  His  reception. 

honor  in  France,  as  a  special  embassador  to 
Queen  Elizabeth,  to  ascertain  more  perfectly 
her  views.  Melville  had  followed  Mary  to 
Scotland,  and  had  entered  her  service  there  as 
a  confidential  secretary ;  and  as  she  had  great 
confidence  in  his  prudence  and  in  his  fidelity, 
she  thought  him  the  most  suitable  person  to 
undertake  this  mission.  Melville  afterward 
lived  to  an  advanced  age,  and  in  the  latter  part 
of  his  life  he  wrote  a  narrative  of  his  various 
adventures,  and  recorded,  in  quaint  and  ancient 
language,  many  of  his  conversations  and  inter- 
views with  the  two  queens.  His  mission  to 
England  was  of  course  a  very  important  event 
in  his  life,  and  one  of  the  most  curious  and  en- 
tertaining passages  in  his  memoirs  is  his  narra- 
tive of  his  interviews  with  the  English  queen. 
He  was,  at  the  time,  about  thirty-four  years  of 
age.     Mary  was  about  twenty-two. 

Sir  James  Melville  was  received  with  many 
marks  of  attention  and  honor  by  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. His  first  interview  with  her  was  in  a 
garden  near  the  palace.  She  first  asked  him 
about  a  letter  which  Mary  had  recently  written 
to  her,  and  which,  she  said,  had  greatly  dis- 
pleased her  ;  and  she  took  out  a  reply  from  her 
pocket,  written  in  very  sharp  and  severe  Ian- 


132         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1564- 

Conversation  of  Melville  and  Elizabeth.  Dudley. 

guage,  though  she  said  she  had  not  sent  it  be- 
cause it  was  not  severe  enough,  and  she  was 
going  to  write  another.  Melville  asked  to  see 
the  letter  from  Mary  which  had  given  Eliza- 
beth so  much  offense  ;  and  on  reading  it,  he  ex- 
plained it,  and  disavowed,  on  Mary's  part,  any 
intention  to  give  offense,  and  thus  finally  suc- 
ceeded in  appeasing  Elizabeth's  displeasure, 
and  at  length  induced  her  to  tear  up  her  angry 
reply. 

Elizabeth  then  wanted  to  know  what  Mary 
thought  of  her  proposal  of  Dudley  for  her  hus- 
band. Melville  told  her  that  she  had  not  given 
the  subject  much  reflection,  but  that  she  was 
going  to  appoint  two  commissioners,  and  she 
wished  Elizabeth  to  appoint  two  others,  and 
then  that  the  four  should  meet  on  the  borders 
of  the  two  countries,  and  consider  the  whole 
subject  of  the  marriage.  Elizabeth  said  that 
she  perceived  that  Mary  did  not  think  much  of 
this  proposed  match.  She  said,  however,  that 
Dudley  stood  extremely  high  in  her  regard ; 
that  she  was  going  to  make  him  an  earl,  and 
that  she  should  marry  him  herself  were  it  not 
that  she  was  fully  resolved  to  live  and  die  a 
single  woman.  She  said  she  wished  very  much 
to  have  Dudley  become  Mary's  husband,  both 


1564.]  Mary  and   Lord  Darnley.      133 

Dudley,  earl  of  Leicester.  The  "long"  lad. 

on  account  of  her  attachment  to  him,  and  also 
on  account  of  his  attachment  to  her,  which  she 
was  sure  would  prevent  his  allowing  her,  that 
is,  Elizabeth,  to  have  any  trouble  out  of  Mary's 
claim  to  her  crown  as  long  as  she  lived. 

Elizabeth  also  asked  Melville  to  wait  in 
Westminster  until  the  day  appointed  for  mak- 
ing Dudley  an  earl.  This  was  done,  a  short 
time  afterward,  with  great  ceremony.  Lord 
Darnley,  then  a  very  tall  and  slender  youth  of 
about  nineteen,  was  present  on  the  occasion. 
His  father  and  mother  had  been  banished  from 
Scotland,  on  account  of  some  political  offenses, 
twenty  years  before,  and  he  had  thus  himself 
been  brought  up  in  England.  As  he  was  a 
near  relative  of  the  queen,  and  a  sort  of  heir- 
presumptive  to  the  crown,  he  had  a  high  posi- 
tion at  the  court,  and  his  office  was,  on  this  oc- 
casion, to  bear  the  sword  of  honor  before  the 
queen.  Dudley  kneeled  before  Elizabeth  while 
she  put  upon  him  the  badges  of  his  new  dig- 
nity. Afterward  she  asked  Melville  what  he 
thought  of  him.  Melville  was  polite  enough  to 
speak  warmly  in  his  favor.  "  And  yet,"  said 
the  queen,  "  I  suppose  you  prefer  yonder  long 
lad,"  pointing  to  Darnley.  She  knew  some- 
thing of  Mary's  half-formed  design  of  making 


134         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1564. 

Lord  Darnley.  Elizabeth's  management. 

Darnley  her  husband.  Melville,  who  did  not 
wish  her  to  suppose  that  Mary  had  any  serious 
intention  of  choosing  Darnley,  said  that  "no 
woman  of  spirit  would  choose  such  a  person  as 
he  was,  for  he  was  handsome,  beardless,  and 
lady-faced ;  in  fact,  he  looked  more  like  a  wom- 
an than  a  man." 

Melville  was  not  very  honest  in  this,  for  he 
had  secret  instructions  at  this  very  time  to  ap- 
ply to  Lady  Lennox,  Darnley's  mother,  to  send 
her  son  into  Scotland,  in  order  that  Mary  might 
see  him,  and  be  assisted  to  decide  the  question 
of  becoming  his  wife,  by  ascertaining  how  she 
was  going  to  like  him  personally.  Queen 
Elizabeth,  in  the  mean  time,  pressed  upon 
Melville  the  importance  of  Mary's  deciding 
soon  in  favor  of  the  marriage  with  Leicester. 
As  to  declaring  in  favor  of  Mary's  right  to  in- 
herit the  crown  after  her,  she  said  the  question 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  great  lawyers  and  com- 
missioners to  whom  she  had  referred  it,  and 
that  she  heartily  wished  that  they  might  come 
to  a  conclusion  in  favor  of  Mary's  claim.  She 
should  urge  the  business  forward  as  fast  as  she 
could ;  but  the  result  would  depend  very  much 
upon  the  disposition  which  Mary  showed  to 
comply  with  her  wishes  in  respect  to  the  mar- 


1564.]  Mary  and   Lord  Darn  ley.      135 

Darnley's  visit  to  Scotland.  Mary's  message  to  Elizabeth. 

riage.  She  said  she  should  never  marry  her- 
self unless  she  was  compelled  to  it  on  account 
of  Mary's  giving  her  trouble  by  her  claims  upon 
the  crown,  and  forcing  her  to  desire  that  it 
should  go  to  her  direct  descendants.  If  Mary 
would  act  wisely,  and  as  she  ought,  and  follow 
her  counsel,  she  would,  in  due  time,  have  all 
her  desire. 

Some  time  more  elapsed  in  negotiations  and 
delays.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  trouble  in 
getting  leave  for  Darnley  to  go  to  Scotland. 
From  his  position,  and  from  the  state  of  the 
laws  and  customs  of  the  two  realms,  he  could 
not  go  without  Elizabeth's  permission.  Final- 
ly, Mary  sent  word  to  Elizabeth  that  she  would 
marry  Leicester  according  to  her  wish,  if  she 
would  have  her  claim  to  the  English  crown, 
after  Elizabeth,  acknowledged  and  established 
by  the  English  government,  so  as  to  have  that 
question  definitely  and  finally  settled.  Eliza- 
beth sent  back  for  answer  to  this  proposal,  that 
if  Mary  married  Leicester,  she  would  advance 
him  to  great  honors  and  dignities,  but  that  she 
could  not  do  any  thing  at  present  about  the  suc- 
cession. She  also,  at  the  same  time,  gave  per- 
mission to  Darnley  to  go  to  Scotland. 

It  is  thought  that  Elizabeth  never  seriously 


136         Mary   Queen    of   Scots.     [1565. 

Elizabeth's  duplicity.  Wemys  Castle. 

intended  that  Mary  should  marry  Leicester, 
and  that  she  did  not  suppose  Mary  herself  would 
consent  to  it  on  any  terms.  Accordingly,  when 
she  found  Mary  was  acceding  to  the  plan,  she 
wanted  to  retreat  from  it  herself,  and  hoped 
that  Darnley's  going  to  Scotland,  and  appear- 
ing there  as  a  new  competitor  in  the  field, 
would  tend  to  complicate  and  embarrass  the 
question  in  Mary's  mind,  and  help  to  prevent 
the  Leicester  negotiation  from  going  any  fur- 
ther. At  any  rate,  Lord  Darnley — then  a  very 
tall  and  handsome  young  man  of  nineteen — ob- 
tained suddenly  permission  to  go  to  Scotland. 
Mary  went  to  Wemys  Castle,  and  made  ar- 
rangements to  have  Darnley  come  and  visit  her 
there. 

Wemys  Castle  is  situated  in  a  most  roman- 
tic and  beautiful  spot  on  the  sea-shore,  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  Frith  of  Forth.  Edin- 
burgh is  upon  the  southern  side  of  the  Frith, 
and  is  in  full  view  from  the  windows  of  the 
castle,  with  Salisbury  Crags  and  Arthur's  Seat 
on  the  left  of  the  city.  Wemys  Castle  was,  at 
this  time,  the  residence  of  Murray,  Mary's 
brother.  Mary's  visit  to  it  was  an  event  which 
attracted  a  great  deal  of  attention.  The  peo- 
ple flocked  into  the  neighborhood,  and  provis- 


1565.]  Mary  and  Lord  Darnley.      139 

Mary's  opinion  of  Darnley.  His  interview  with  her. 

ions  and  accommodations  of  every  kind  rose 
enormously  in  price.  Every  body  wanted  to 
get  a  glimpse  of  the  beautiful  queen.  Besides, 
they  knew  that  Lord  Darnley  was  expected, 
and  the  rumor  that  he  was  seriously  thought  of 
as  her  future  husband  had  been  widely  circu- 
lated, and  had  awakened,  of  course,  a  universal 
desire  to  see  him. 

Mary  was  very  much  pleased  with  Darnley. 
She  told  Melville,  after  their  first  interview, 
that  he  was  the  handsomest  and  best  propor- 
tioned "  long  man"  she  had  ever  seen.  Darn- 
ley was,  in  fact,  very  tall,  and  as  he  was  straight 
and  slender,  he  appeared  even  taller  than  he 
really  was.  He  was,  however,  though  young, 
very  easy  and  graceful  in  his  manners,  and 
highly  accomplished.  Mary  was  very  much 
pleased  with  him.  She  had  almost  decided  to 
make  him  her  husband  before  she  saw  him, 
merely  from  political  considerations,  on  account 
of  her  wish  to  combine  his  claim  with  hers 
in  respect  to  the  English  crown.  Elizabeth's 
final  answer,  refusing  the  terms  on  which  Mary 
had  consented  to  marry  Leicester,  which  came 
about  this  time,  vexed  her,  and  determined  her 
to  abandon  that  plan.  And  now,  just  in  such 
a  crisis,  to  find  Darnley  possessed  of  such  strong 


140         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1565. 

The  courtship.  Elizabeth  in  a  rage. 

personal  attractions,  seemed  to  decide  the  ques- 
tion. In  a  few  days  her  imagination  was  full 
of  pictures  of  joy  and  pleasure,  in  anticipations 
of  union  with  such  a  husband. 

The  thing  took  the  usual  course  of  such  af- 
fairs. Darnley  asked  Mary  to  be  his  wife.  She 
said  no,  and  was  offended  with  him  for  asking 
it.  He  offered  her  a  present  of  a  ring.  She 
refused  to  accept  it.  But  the  no  meant  yes, 
and  the  rejection  of  the  ring  was  only  the  prel- 
ude to  the  acceptance  of  something  far  more 
important,  of  which  a  ring  is  the  symbol.  Ma- 
ry's first  interview  with  Darnley  was  in  Feb- 
ruary. In  April,  Queen  Elizabeth's  embassa- 
dor sent  her  word  that  he  was  satisfied  that 
Mary's  marriage  with  Darnley  was  all  arrang- 
ed and  settled. 

Queen  Elizabeth  was,  or  pretended  to  be,  in 
a  great  rage.  She  sent  the  most  urgent  re- 
monstrances to  Mary  against  the  execution  of 
the  plan.  She  forwarded,  also,  very  decisive 
orders  to  Darnley,  and  to  the  Earl  of  Lennox 
his  father,  to  return  immediately  to  England. 
Lennox  replied  that  he  could  not  return,  for 
"  he  did  not  think  the  climate  would  agree  with 
him !"  Darnley  sent  back  word  that  he  had 
entered  the  service  of  the  Queen  of  Scots,  and 


1565.]  Mary  and   Lord  Darn  ley.      141 

Murray's  opposition.      Mary  hastens  the  marriage.      A  dangerous  plot. 

henceforth  should  obey  her  orders  alone.  Eliz- 
abeth, however,  was  not  the  only  one  who  op- 
posed this  marriage.  The  Earl  of  Murray,  Ma- 
ry's brother,  who  had  been  thus  far  the  great 
manager  of  the  government  under  Mary,  took 
at  once  a  most  decided  stand  against  it.  He 
enlisted  a  great  number  of  Protestant  nobles 
with  him,  and  they  held  deliberations,  in  which 
they  formed  plans  for  resisting  it  by  force.  But 
Mary,  who,  with  all  her  gentleness  and  loveli- 
ness of  spirit,  had,  like  other  women,  some  de- 
cision and  energy  when  an  object  in  which  the 
heart  is  concerned  is  at  stake,  had  made  up 
her  mind.  She  sent  to  France  to  get  the  con- 
sent of  her  friends  there.  She  dispatched  a  com- 
missioner to  Rome  to  obtain  the  pope's  dispen- 
sation ;  she  obtained  the  sanction  of  her  own 
Parliament ;  and,  in  fact,  in  every  way  hasten- 
ed the  preparations  for  the  marriage. 

Murray,  on  the  other  hand,  and  his  confed- 
erate lords,  were  determined  to  prevent  it.  They 
formed  a  plan  to  rise  in  rebellion  against  Mary, 
to  waylay  and  seize  her,  to  imprison  her,  and 
to  send  Darnley  and  his  father  to  England,  hav- 
ing made  arrangements  with  Elizabeth's  min- 
isters to  receive  them  at  the  borders.  The  plan 
was  all  well  matured,  and  would  probably  have 


142         Mary   Queen    of   Scots.     [1565. 

Mary's  narrow  escape.  The  marriage. 

been  carried  into  effect,  had  not  Mary,  in  some 
way  or  other,  obtained  information  of  the  de- 
sign. She  was  then  at  Stirling,  and  they  were 
to  waylay  her  on  the  usual  route  to  Edinburgh. 
She  made  a  sudden  journey,  at  an  unexpected 
time,  and  by  a  new  and  unusual  road,  and  thus 
evaded  her  enemies.  The  violence  of  this  op- 
position only  stimulated  her  determination  to 
carry  the  marriage  into  effect  without  delay. 
Her  escape  from  her  rebellious  nobles  took  place 
in  June,  and  she  was  married  in  July.  This 
was  six  months  after  her  first  interview  with 
Darnley.  The  ceremony  was  performed  in  the 
royal  chapel  at  Holyrood.  They  show,  to  this 
day,  the  place  where  she  is  said  to  have  stood, 
in  the  now  roofless  interior. 

Mary  was  conducted  into  the  chapel  by  her 
father  and  another  nobleman,  in  the  midst  of  a 
large  company  of  lords  and  ladies  of  the  court, 
and  of  strangers  of  distinction,  who  had  come 
to  Edinburgh  to  witness  the  ceremony.  A  vast 
throng  had  collected  also  around  the  palace. 
Mary  was  led  to  the  altar,  and  then  Lord  Darn- 
ley  was  conducted  in.  The  marriage  ceremony 
was  performed  according  to  the  Catholic  ritual. 
Three  rings,  one  of  them  a  diamond  ring  of 
great  value,  were  put  upon  her  finger.     After 


1565.]  Mary  and   Lord  Darnley.      143 

The  mourner  and  the  bride.  Darnley's  contemptible  character. 

the  ceremony,  largess  was  proclaimed,  and  mon- 
ey distributed  among  the  crowd,  as  had  been 
done  in  Paris  at  Mary's  former  marriage,  five 
years  before.  Mary  then  remained  to  attend 
the  celebration  of  mass,  Darnley,  who  was  not 
a  Catholic,  retiring.  After  the  mass,  Mary  re- 
turned to  the  palace,  and  changed  the  mourn- 
ing dress  which  she  had  continued  to  wear  from 
the  time  of  her  first  husband's  death  to  that 
hour,  for  one  more  becoming  a  bride.  The 
evening  was  spent  in  festivities  of  every  kind. 

We  have  said  that  Darnley  was  personally 
attractive  in  respect  both  to  his  countenance 
and  his  manners ;  and,  unfortunately,  this  is 
all  that  can  be  said  in  his  favor.  He  was  weak- 
minded,  and  yet  self-conceited  and  vain.  The 
sudden  elevation  which  his  marriage  with  a 
queen  gave  him,  made  him  proud,  and  he  soon 
began  to  treat  all  around  him  in  a  very  haughty 
and  imperious  manner.  He  seems  to  have  been 
entirely  unaccustomed  to  exercise  any  self-com- 
mand, or  to  submit  to  any  restraints  in  the  grat- 
ification of  his  passions.  Mary  paid  him  a  great 
many  attentions,  and  took  great  pleasure  in  con- 
ferring upon  him,  as  her  queenly  power  enabled 
her  to  do,  distinctions  and  honors ;  but,  instead 
of  being  grateful  for  them,  he  received  them  as 


144         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1566. 

Darnley's  imperiousness  and  pride.  Mary's  cares.  Rebellion. 

matters  of  course,  and  was  continually  demand- 
ing more.  There  was  one  title  which  he  want- 
ed, and  which,  for  some  good  reason,  it  was  nec- 
essary to  postpone  conferring  upon  him.  A  no- 
bleman came  to  him  one  day  and  informed  him 
of  the  necessity  of  this  delay.  He  broke  into  a 
fit  of  passion,  drew  his  dagger,  rushed  toward 
the  nobleman,  and  attempted  to  stab  him.  He 
commenced  his  imperious  and  haughty  course 
of  procedure  even  before  his  marriage,  and  con- 
tinued it  afterward,  growing  more  and  more 
violent  as  his  ambition  increased  with  an  in- 
crease of  power.  Mary  felt  these  cruel  acts  of 
selfishness  and  pride  very  keenly,  but,  woman- 
like, she  palliated  and  excused  them,  and  loved 
him  still. 

She  had,  however,  other  trials  and  cares  press- 
ing upon  her  immediately.  Murray  and  his 
confederates  organized  a  formaf  and  open  re- 
bellion. Mary  raised  an  army  and  took  the 
field  against  them.  The  country  generally 
took  her  side.  A  terrible  and  somewhat  pro- 
tracted civil  war  ensued,  but  the  rebels  were 
finally  defeated  and  driven  out  of  the  country. 
They  went  to  England  and  claimed  Elizabeth's 
protection,  saying  that  she  had  incited  them  to 
the  revolt,  and  promised  them  her  aid.     Eliza- 


1566.]  Mary  and  Lord  Darnley.      145 

Elizabeth's  treatment  of  the  rebels.    Mary's  generous  conduct  to  Darnley. 

beth  told  them  that  it  would  not  do  for  her  to 
be  supposed  to  have  abetted  a  rebellion  in  her 
cousin  Mary's  dominions,  and  that,  unless  they 
would,  in  the  presence  of  the  foreign  embassa- 
dors at  her  court,  disavow  her  having  done  so, 
she  could  not  help  them  or  countenance  them  in 
any  way.  The  miserable  men,  fceing  reduced 
to  a  hard  extremity,  made  this  disavowal.  Eliz- 
abeth then  said  to  them,  "Now  you  have  told 
the  truth.  Neither  I,  nor  any  one  else  in  my 
name,  incited  you  against  your  queen ;  and 
your  abominable  treason  may  set  an  example 
to  my  own  subjects  to  rebel  against  me.  So 
get  you  gone  out  of  my  presence,  miserable 
traitors  as  you  are." 

Thus  Mary  triumphed  over  all  the  obstacles 
to  her  marriage  with  the  man  she  loved;  but, 
alas !  before  the  triumph  was  fully  accomplish- 
ed, the  love  was  gone.  Darnley  was  selfish, 
unfeeling,  and  incapable  of  requiting  affection 
like  Mary's.  He  treated  her  with  the  most 
heartless  indifference,  though  she  had  done  ev- 
ery thing  to  awaken  his  gratitude  and  win  his 
love.  She  bestowed  upon  him  every  honor  which 
it  was  in  her  power  to  grant.  She  gave  him 
the  title  of  king.  She  admitted  hirri  to  share 
with  her  the  powers  and  prerogatives  of  the 
10 


146        Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1566. 

The  double  throne.  Darnley's  cruel  ingratitude. 

crown.  There  is  to  this  day,  in  Mary's  apart- 
ments at  Holyrood  House,  a  double  throne 
which  she  had  made  for  herself  and  her  hus- 
band, with  their  initials  worked  together  in  the 
embroidered  covering,  and  each  seat  surmount- 
ed by  a  crown.  Mankind  have  always  felt  a 
strong  sentiment  of  indignation  at  the  ingrati- 
tude which  could  requite  such  love  with  such 
selfishness  and  cruelty. 


1561.]  Rizzio.  147 

David  Itizzio.  Embassadors.  Rizzio's  position. 


Chapter   VII. 
Rizzio. 

MARY  had  a  secretary  named  David  Riz- 
zio. He  was  from  Savoy,  a  country 
among  the  Alps.  It  was  the  custom  then,  as 
it  is  now,  for  the  various  governments  of  Eu- 
rope to  have  embassadors  at  the  courts  of  other 
governments,  to  attend  to  any  negotiations,  or 
to  the  transaction  of  any  other  business  which 
might  arise  between  their  respective  sovereigns. 
These  embassadors  generally  traveled  with 
pomp  and  parade,  taking  sometimes  many  at- 
tendants with  them.  The  embassador  from 
Savoy  happened  to  bring  with  him  to  Scotland, 
in  his  train,  this  young  man,  Rizzio,  in  1561, 
that  is,  just  about  the  time  that  Mary  herself 
returned  to  Scotland.  He  was  a  handsome  and 
agreeable  young  man,  but  his  rank  and  position 
were  such  that,  for  some  years,  he  attracted  no 
attention. 

He  was,  however,  quite  a  singer,  and  they 
used  to  bring  him  in  sometimes  to  sing  in 


148         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.    [1564 

Bizzio  French  secretary.  Displeasure  of  the  Scotch  nobles. 

Mary's  presence  with  three  other  singers.  His 
voice,  being  a  good  bass,  made  up  the  quar- 
tette. Mary  saw  him  in  this  way,  and  as  he 
was  a  good  French  and  Italian  scholar,  and  was 
amiable  and  intelligent,  she  gradually  became 
somewhat  interested  in  him.  Mary  had,  at 
this  time,  among  her  other  officers,  a  French 
secretary,  who  wrote  for  her,  and  transacted 
such  other  business  as  required  a  knowledge  of 
the  French  language.  This  French  secretary 
went  home,  and  Mary  appointed  Bizzio  to  take 
his  place. 

The  native  Scotchmen  in  Mary's  court  were 
naturally  very  jealous  of  the  influence  of  these 
foreigners.  They  looked  down  with  special 
contempt  on  Rizzio,  considering  him  of  mean 
rank  and  position,  and  wholly  destitute  of  all 
claim  to  the  office  of  confidential  secretary  to 
the  queen.  Rizzio  increased  the  difficulty  by 
not  acting  with  the  reserve  and  prudence  which 
his  delicate  situation  required.  The  nobles, 
proud  of  their  own  rank  and  importance,  were 
very  much  displeased  at  the  degree  of  intimacy 
and  confidence  to  which  Mary  admitted  him. 
They  called  him  an  intruder  and  an  upstart. 
When  they  came  in  and  found  him  in  conver- 
sation with  the  queen,  or  whenever  he  accosted 


1564.]  Kizzio.  149 

They  treat  Rizzio  with  scorn  and  contempt.  He  consults  Melville. 

her  freely,  as  he  was  wont  to  do,  in  their  pres- 
ence, they  were  irritated  and  vexed.  They  did 
not  dare  to  remonstrate  with  Mary,  but  they 
took  care  to  express  their  feelings  of  resent- 
ment and  scorn  to  the  subject  of  them  in  every 
possible  way.  They  scowled  upon  him.  They 
directed  to  him  looks  of  contempt.  They  turn- 
ed their  backs  upon  him,  and  jostled  him  in  a 
rude  and  insulting  manner.  All  this  was  a 
year  or  two  before  Mary's  marriage. 

Rizzio  consulted  Melville,  asking  his  judg- 
ment as  to  what  he  had  better  do.  He  said 
that,  being  Mary's  French  secretary,  he  was 
necessarily  a  good  deal  in  her  company,  and 
the  nobles  seemed  displeased  with  it;  but  he 
did  not  see  what  he  could  do  to  diminish  or 
avoid  the  difficulty.  Melville  replied  that  the 
nobles  had  an  opinion  that  he  not  only  perform- 
ed the  duties  of  French  secretary,  but  that  he 
was  fast  acquiring  a  great  ascendency  in  re- 
spect to  all  other  affairs.  Melville  further  ad- 
vised him  to  be  much  more  cautious  in  his  bear- 
ing than  he  had  been,  to  give  place  to  the  no- 
bles when  they  were  with  him  in  the  presence 
of  the  queen,  to  speak  less  freely,  and  in  a  more 
unassuming  manner,  and  to  explain  the  whole 
case  to  the  queen  herself,  that  she  might  co- 


L50        Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1564 

Melville's  counsel.  Melville  and  the  queen. 

operate  with  him  in  pursuing  a  course  which 
would  soothe  and  conciliate  the  irritated  and 
angry  feelings  of  the  nobles.  Melville  said, 
moreover,  that  he  had  himself,  at  one  time,  at 
a  court  on  the  Continent,  been  placed  in  a  very 
similar  situation  to  Rizzio's,  and  had  been  in- 
volved in  the  same  difficulties,  but  had  escap- 
ed the  dangers  which  threatened  him  by  pur- 
suing himself  the  course  which  he  now  recom- 
mended. 

Rizzio  seemed  to  approve  of  this  counsel,  and 
promised  to  follow  it;  but  he  afterward  told 
Melville  that  he  had  spoken  to  the  queen  on  the 
subject,  and  that  she  would  not  consent  to  any 
change,  but  wished  every  thing  to  go  on  as  it 
had  done.  Now  the  queen,  having  great  con- 
fidence in  Melville,  had  previously  requested 
him,  that  if  he  saw  any  thing  in  her  deport- 
ment, or  management,  or  measures,  which  he 
thought  was  wrong,  frankly  to  let  her  know  it, 
that  she  might  be  warned  in  season,  and  amend. 
He  thought  that  this  was  an  occasion  which  re- 
quired this  friendly  interposition,  and  he  took 
an  opportunity  to  converse  with  her  on  the  sub- 
ject in  a  frank  and  plain,  but  still  very  respect- 
ful manner.  He  made  but  little  impression. 
Mary  said  that  Rizzio  was  only  her  private 


1564]  Rizzio.  151 

Rizzio's  religion.  His  services  to  Mary. 

French  secretary;  that  he  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  affairs  of  the  government ;  that,  conse- 
quently, his  appointment  and  his  office  were  her 
own  private  concern  alone,  and  she  should  con- 
tinue to  act  according  to  her  own  pleasure  in 
managing  her  own  affairs,  no  matter  who  was 
displeased  by  it. 

It  is  probable  that  the  real  ground  of  offense 
which  the  nobles  had  against  Rizzio  was  jeal- 
ousy of  his  superior  influence  with  the  queen. 
They,  however,  made  his  religion  a  great  ground 
of  complaint  against  him.  He  was  a  Catholic, 
and  had  come  from  a  strong  Catholic  country, 
having  been  born  in  the  northern  part  of  Italy. 
The  Italian  language  was  his  mother  tongue. 
They  professed  to  believe  that  he  was  a  secret 
emissary  of  the  pope,  and  was  plotting  with 
Mary  to  bring  Scotland  back  under  the  papal 
dominion. 

In  the  mean  time,  Rizzio  devoted  himself 
with  untiring  zeal  and  fidelity  to  the  service 
of  the  queen.  He  was  indefatigable  in  his  ef- 
forts to  please  her,  and  he  made  himself  ex- 
tremely useful  to  her  in  a  thousand  different 
ways.  In  fact,  his  being  the  object  of  so  much 
dislike  and  aversion  on  the  part  of  others,  made 
him  more  and  more  exclusively  devoted  to  the 


152        Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1565 

Rizzio'a  power  and  influence.  His  intimacy  with  Mary. 

queen,  who  seemed  to  be  almost  his  only  friend. 
She,  too,  was  urged,  by  what  she  considered  the 
unreasonable  and  bitter  hostility  of  which  her 
favorite  was  the  object,  to  bestow  upon  him 
greater  and  greater  favors.  In  process  of  time, 
one  after  another  of  those  about  the  court,  find- 
ing that  Rizzio's  influence  and  power  were  great, 
and  were  increasing,  began  to  treat  him  with 
respect,  and  to  ask  for  his  assistance  in  gaining 
their  ends.  Thus  Rizzio  found  his  position  be- 
coming stronger,  and  the  probability  began  to 
increase  that  he  would  at  length  triumph  over 
the  enemies  who  had  set  their  faces  so  strongly 
against  him. 

Though  he  had  been  at  first  inclined  to  fol- 
low Melville's  advice,  yet  he  afterward  fell  in 
cordially  with  the  policy  of  the  queen,  which 
was,  to  press  boldly  forward,  and  put  down  with 
a  strong  hand  the  hostility  which  had  been  ex- 
cited against  him.  Instead,  therefore,  of  at- 
tempting to  conceal  the  degree  of  favor  which 
he  enjoyed  with  the  queen,  he  boasted  of  and 
displayed  it.  He  would  converse  often  and  fa- 
miliarly with  her  in  public.  He  dressed  mag- 
nificently, like  persons  of  the  highest  rank,  and 
had  many  attendants.  In  a  word,  he  assumed 
all  the  airs  and  manners  of  a  person  of  high  dis- 


1565.]  Rizzio.  153 

E.izzio'8  exertion  in  favor  of  the  marriage.  Rizzio  and  Darnley. 

tinction  and  commanding  influence.  The  ex- 
ternal signs  of  hostility  to  him  were  thus  put 
down,  but  the  fires  of  hatred  burned  none  the 
less  fiercely  below,  and  only  wanted  an  oppor- 
tunity to  burst  into  an  explosion. 

Things  were  in  this  state  at  the  time  of  the  ne- 
gotiations in  respect  to  Darnley's  marriage ;  for, 
in  order  to  take  up  the  story  of  Rizzio  from  the 
beginning,  we  have  been  obliged  to  go  back  in 
our  narrative.  Rizzio  exerted  all  his  influence 
in  favor  of  the  marriage,  and  thus  both  strength- 
ened his  influence  with  Mary  and  made  Darn- 
ley  his  friend.  He  did  all  in  his  power  to  di- 
minish the  opposition  to  it,  from  whatever  quar- 
ter it  might  come,  and  rendered  essential  serv- 
ice in  the  correspondence  with  France,  and  in 
the  negotiations  with  the  pope  for  obtaining  the 
necessary  dispensation.  In  a  word,  he  did  a 
great  deal  to  promote  the  marriage,  and  to  fa- 
cilitate all  the  arrangements  for  carrying  it  into 
effect. 

Darnley  relied,  therefore,  upon  Rizzio's  friend- 
ship and  devotion  to  his  service,  forgetting  that, 
in  all  these  past  efforts,  Rizzio  was  acting  out 
of  regard  to  Mary's  wishes,  and  not  to  his  own. 
As  long,  therefore,  as  Mary  and  Darnley  contin- 
ued to  pursue  the  same  objects  and  aims,  Rizzio 


154        Mary   Queen   of   Scots.     [1566. 

Darnley  greatly  disliked.  His  unreasonable  wishes. 

was  the  common  friend  and  ally  of  both.  The 
enemies  of  the  marriage,  however,  disliked  Riz- 
zio  more  than  ever. 

As  Darnley's  character  developed  itself  grad- 
ually after  his  marriage,  every  body  began  to 
dislike  him  also.  He  was  unprincipled  and  vi- 
cious, as  well  as  imperious  and  proud.  His 
friendship  for  Rizzio  was  another  ground  of  dis- 
like to  him.  The  ancient  nobles,  who  had  been 
accustomed  to  exercise  the  whole  control  in  the 
public  affairs  of  Scotland,  found  themselves  sup- 
planted by  this  young  Italian  singer,  and  an 
English  boy  not  yet  out  of  his  teens.  They 
were  exasperated  beyond  all  bounds,  but  yet 
they  contrived,  for  a  while,  to  conceal  and  dis- 
semble their  anger. 

It  was  not  very  long  after  the  marriage  of 
Mary  and  Darnley  before  they  began  to  become 
alienated  from  each  other.  Mary  did  every 
thing  for  her  husband  which  it  was  reasonable 
for  him  to  expect  her  to  do.  She  did,  in  fact, 
all  that  was  in  her  power.  But  he  was  not  sat- 
isfied. She  made  him  the  sharer  of  her  throne. 
He  wanted  her  to  give  up  her  place  to  him,  and 
thus  make  him  the  sole  possessor  of  it.  He 
wanted  what  was  called  the  crown  matrimonial. 
The  crown  matrimonial  denoted  power  with 


1566.]  Rizzio.  155 

The  crown  matrimonial.  Darnley's  ambition. 

which,  according  to  the  old  Scottish  law,  the 
husband  of  a  queen  could  be  invested,  enabling 
him  to  exercise  the  royal  prerogative  in  his  own 
name,  both  during  the  life  of  the  queen  and 
also  after  her  death,  during  the  continuance  of 
his  own  life.  This  made  him,  in  fact,  a  king 
for  life,  exalting  him  above  his  wife,  the  real 
sovereign,  through  whom  alone  he  derived  his 
powers. 

Now  Darnley  was  very  urgent  to  have  the 
crown  matrimonial  conferred  upon  him.  He 
insisted  upon  it.  He  would  not  submit  to  any 
delay.  Mary  told  him  that  this  was  something 
entirely  beyond  her  power  to  grant.  The  crown 
matrimonial  could  only  be  bestowed  by  a  sol- 
emn enactment  of  the  Scottish  Parliament. 
But  Darnley,  impatient  and  reckless,  like  a  boy 
as  he  was,  would  not  listen  to  any  excuse,  but 
teased  and  tormented  Mary  about  the  crown 
matrimonial  continually. 

Besides  the  legal  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
Mary's  conferring  these  powers  upon  Darnley 
by  her  own  act,  there  were  other  difficulties, 
doubtless,  in  her  mind,  arising  from  the  char- 
acter of  Darnley,  and  his  unfitness,  which  was 
every  day  becoming  more  manifest,  to  be  in- 
trusted with  such  power.     Only  four  months 


156         Mary  Queen   of    Scots.     [1566. 

Darnley'a  brutality.  Signatures.  Coins. 

after  his  marriage,  his  rough  and  cruel  treat- 
ment of  Mary  became  intolerable.  One  day, 
at  a  house  in  Edinburgh,  where  the  king  and 
queen,  and  other  persons  of  distinction  had  been 
invited  to  a  banquet,  Darnley,  as  was  his  cus- 
tom, was  beginning  to  drink  very  freely,  and 
was  trying  to  urge  other  persons  there  to  drink 
to  excess.  Mary  expostulated  with  him,  en- 
deavoring to  dissuade  him  from  such  a  course. 
Darnley  resented  these  kind  cautions,  and  re- 
torted upon  her  in  so  violent  and  brutal  a  man- 
ner as  to  cause  her  to  leave  the  room  and  the 
company  in  tears. 

"When  they  were  first  married,  Mary  had 
caused  her  husband  to  be  proclaimed  king,  and 
had  taken  some  other  similar  steps  to  invest  him 
with  a  share  of  her  own  power.  But  she  soon 
found  that  in  doing  this  she  had  gone  to  the  ex- 
treme of  propriety,  and  that,  for  the  future,  she 
must  retreat  rather  than  advance.  According- 
ly, although  he  was  associated  with  her  in  the 
supreme  power,  she  thought  it  best  to  keep 
precedence  for  her  own  name  before  his,  in  the. 
exercise  of  power.  On  the  coins  which  were 
struck,  the  inscription  was,  "  In  the  name  of 
the  Queen  and  King  of  Scotland."  In  signing 
public  documents,  she  insisted  on  having  her 


1566.]  Rizzio.  157 

Rizzio  sides  with  Mary.  Darnley  and  Ruthven. 

name  recorded  first.  These  things  irritated  and 
provoked  Darnley  more  and  more.  He  was 
not  contented  to  be  admitted  to  a  share  of  the 
sovereign  power  which  the  queen  possessed  in 
her  own  right  alone.  He  wished  to  supplant 
her  in  it  entirely. 

Rizzio,  of  course,  took  Queen  Mary's  part  in 
these  questions.  He  opposed  the  grant  of  the 
crown  matrimonial.  He  opposed  all  other 
plans  for  increasing  or  extending  in  any  way 
Darnley's  power.  Darnley  was  very  much  in- 
censed against  him,  and  earnestly  desired  to 
find  some  way  to  effect  his  destruction.  He 
communicated  these  feelings  to  a  certain  fierce 
and  fearless  nobleman  named  Ruthven,  and 
asked  his  assistance  to  contrive  some  way  to 
take  vengeance  upon  Rizzio. 

Ruthven  was  very  much  pleased  to  hear  this. 
He  belonged  to  a  party  of  the  lords  of  the  court 
who  also  hated  Rizzio,  though  they  had  hated 
Darnley  besides  so  much  that  they  had  not  com- 
municated to  him  their  hostility  to  the  other. 
Ruthven  and  his  friends  had  not  joined  Mur- 
ray and  the  other  rebels  in  opposing  the  mar- 
riage of  Darnley.  They  had  chosen  to  acqui- 
esce in  it,  hoping  to  maintain  an  ascendency 
over  Darnley,  regarding  him,  as  they  did,  as  a 


158         Mary  Queen    of    Scots.     [1566. 

A  combination.  The  secretary  and  his  queen. 

mere  boy,  and  thus  retain  their  power.  "When 
they  found,  however,  that  he  was  so  headstrong 
and  unmanageable,  and  that  they  could  do 
nothing  with  him,  they  exerted  all  their  influ- 
ence to  have  Murray  and  the  other  exiled  lords 
pardoned  and  allowed  to  return,  hoping  to  com- 
bine with  them  after  their  return,  and  then  to- 
gether to  make  their  power  superior  to  that  of 
Darnley  and  Rizzio.  They  considered  Darn- 
ley  and  Rizzio  both  as  their  rivals  and  ene- 
mies. When  they  found,  therefore,  that  Darn- 
ley  was  plotting  Rizzio's  destruction,  they  felt 
a  very  strong  as  well  as  a  very  unexpected 
pleasure. 

Thus,  among  all  the  jealousies,  and  rivalries, 
and  bitter  animosities  of  which  the  court  was 
at  this  time  the  scene,  the  only  true  and  hon- 
est attachment  of  one  heart  to  another  seems  to 
have  been  that  of  Mary  to  Rizzio.  The  secre- 
tary was  faithful  and  devoted  to  the  queen,  and 
the  queen  was  grateful  and  kind  to  the  secre- 
tary. There  has  been  some  question  whether 
this  attachment  was  an  innocent  or  a  guilty 
one.  A  painting,  still  hanging  in  the  private 
rooms  which  belonged  to  Mary  in  the  palace  at 
Holyrood,  represents  Rizzio  as  young  and  very 
handsome ;  on  the  other  hand,  some  of  the  his- 


1566.]  Rizziq.  159 

Nature  of  Mary's  attachment.  Plot  to  assassinate  Bizzio. 

torians  of  the  day,  to  disprove  the  possibility 
of  any  guilty  attachment,  say  that  he  was  rath- 
er old  and  ugly.  "We  may  ourselves,  perhaps, 
safely  infer,  that  unless  there  were  something 
specially  repulsive  in  his  appearance  and  man- 
ner, such  a  heart  as  Mary's,  repelled  so  roughly 
from  the  one  whom  it  was  her  duty  to  love, 
could  not  well  have  resisted  the  temptation  to 
seek  a  retreat  and  a  refuge  in  the  kind  devot- 
edness  of  such  a  friend  as  Rizzio  proved  him- 
self to  be  to  her. 

However  this  may  be,  Ruthven  made  such 
suggestions  to  Darnley  as  goaded  him  to  mad- 
ness, and  a  scheme  was  soon  formed  for  putting 
Rizzio  to  death.  The  plan,  after  being  delib- 
erately matured  in  all  its  arrangements,  was 
carried  into  effect  in  the  following  manner. 
The  event  occurred  early  in  the  spring  of  1566, 
less  than  a  year  after  Mary's  marriage. 

Morton,  who  was  one  of  the  accomplices,  as- 
sembled a  large  force  of  his  followers,  consist- 
ing, it  is  said,  of  five  hundred  men,  which  he 
posted  in  the  evening  near  the  palace,  and 
when  it  was  dark  he  moved  them  silently  into 
the  central  court  of  the  palace,  through  the 
entrance  E,  as  marked  upon  the  following 
plan. 


160         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1566. 


Plan  of  Holyrood  House. 


Description. 


Plan  of  that  part  of  Holyrood  House  which 

WAS  THE   SCENE   OF   RlZZIo's  MURDER. 


E.  Principal  entrance.  Co.  Court  of  the  palace.  PP.  Piazza  around 
it  AA.  Various  apartments  built  in  modern  times.  H.  Great  hall, 
used  now  as  a  gallery  of  portraits.  T.  Stair-case.  o.  Entrance  to 
Mary's  apartments,  second  floor.  R.  Ante-room.  B.  Mary's  bed-room. 
D.  Dressing-room  in  one  of  the  towers.  C.  Cabinet,  or  small  room  in 
the  other  tower.  SS.  Stair-cases  in  the  wall.  d.  Small  entrance  under 
the  tapestry.  Ch.  Royal  chapel.  771.  Place  where  Mary  and  Darnley 
stood  at  the  marriage  ceremony.    Pa.  Passage-way  leading  to  the  chapel. 

Mary  was,  at  the  time  of  these  occurrences, 
in  the  little  room  marked  (7,  which  was  built 
within  one  of  the  round  towers  which  form  a 
part  of  the  front  of  the  building,  and  which  are 
very  conspicuous  in  any  view  of  the  palace  of 


1566.]  Rizzio.  161 

Apartments.  Morton  and  Ruthven. 

Holyrood.#  This  room  was  on  the  third  floor, 
and  it  opened  into  Mary's  bedroom,  marked  B. 
Darnley  had  a  room  of  his  own  immediately 
below  Mary's.  There  was  a  little  door,  d,  lead- 
ing from  Mary's  bed-room  to  a  private  stair- 
case built  in  the  wall.  This  stair-case  led  down 
into  Darnley's  room  ;  and  there  was  also  a  com- 
munication from  this  place  down  through  the 
whole  length  of  the  castle  to  the  royal  chapel, 
marked  OA,  the  building  which  is  now  in  ruins. 
Behind  Mary's  bed-room  was  an  ante-room,  R, 
with  a  door,  o,  leading  to  the  public  stair-case 
by  which  her  apartments  were  approached. 
All  these  apartments  still  remain,  and  are  ex- 
plored annually  by  thousands  of  visitors. 

It  was  about  seven  o'clock  in  the  evening 
that  the  conspirators  were  to  execute  their  pur- 
pose. Morton  remained  below  in  the  court 
with  his  troops,  to  prevent  any  interruption. 
He  held  a  high  office  under  the  queen,  which 
authorized  him  to  bring  a  force  into  the  court 
of  the  palace,  and  his  doing  so  did  not  alarm 
the  inmates.  Ruthven  was  to  head  the  party 
which  was  to  commit  the  crime.  He  was  con- 
fined to  his  bed  with  sickness  at  the  time,  but 

*  See  view  of  Holyrood  House,  page  114,  and  compare  it 
with  this  plan. 
11 


162         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1566. 

Mary  at  supper.  Arrangements  of  the  conspirators. 

he  was  so  eager  to  have  a  share  in  the  pleasure 
of  destroying  Rizzio,  that  he  left  his  bed,  put 
on  a  suit  of  armor,  and  came  forth  to  the  work. 
The  armor  is  preserved  in  the  little  apartment 
which  was  the  scene  of  the  tragedy  to  this  day 

Mary  was  at  supper.  Two  near  relatives 
and  friends  of  hers — a  gentleman  and  a  lady — 
and  Rizzio,  were  with  her.  The  room  is  scarce- 
ly large  enough  to  contain  a  greater  number. 
There  were,  however,  two  or  three  servants  in 
attendance  at  a  side-table.  Darnley  came  up, 
about  eight  o'clock,  to  make  observations.  The 
other  conspirators  were  concealed  in  his  room 
below,  and  it  was  agreed  that  if  Darnley  found 
any  cause  for  not  proceeding  with  the  plan,  he 
was  to  return  immediately  and  give  them  no- 
tice. If,  therefore,  he  should  not  return,  after 
the  lapse  of  a  reasonable  time,  they  were  to  fol- 
low him  up  the  private  stair-case,  prepared  to 
act  at  once  and  decidedly  as  soon  as  they  should 
enter  the  room.  They  were  to  come  up  by  this 
private  stair-case,  in  order  to  avoid  being  inter- 
cepted or  delayed  by  the  domestics  in  attend- 
ance in  the  ante-room,  R,  of  which  there  would 
have  been  danger  if  they  had  ascended  by  the 
public  stair-case  at  T. 

Finding  that  Darnley  did  not  return,  Ruthven 


1566.]  Rizzio.  163 

The  little  upper  room.  Murder  of  Rizzio. 

and  his  party  ascended  the  stairs,  entered  the 
bed-chamber  through  the  little  door  at  d,  and 
thence  advanced  to  the  door  of  the  cabinet,  his 
heavy  iron  armor  clanking  as  he  came.  The 
queen,  alarmed,  demanded  the  meaning  of  this 
intrusion.  Ruthven,  whose  countenance  was 
grim  and  ghastly  from  the  conjoined  influence 
of  ferocious  passion  and  disease,  said  that  they 
meant  no  harm  to  her,  but  they  only  wanted 
the  villain  who  stood  near  her.  Rizzio  perceiv- 
ed that  his  hour  was  come.  The  attendants 
flocked  in  to  the  assistance  of  the  queen  and 
Rizzio.  Ruthven's  confederates  advanced  to 
join  in  the  attack,  and  there  ensued  one  of  those 
scenes  of  confusion  and  terror,  of  which  those 
who  witness  it  have  no  distinct  recollection  on 
looking  back  upon  it  when  it  is  over.  Rizzio 
cried  out  in  an  agony  of  fear,  and  sought  refuge 
behind  the  queen;  the  queen  herself  fainted; 
the  table  was  overturned ;  and  Rizzio,  having 
received  one  wound  from  a  dagger,  was  seized 
and  dragged  out  through  the  bed-chamber,  B, 
and  through  the  ante-room,  i£,  to  the  door,  o, 
where  he  fell  down,  and  was  stabbed  by  the 
murderers  again  and  again,  till  he  ceased  to 
breathe. 

After  this  scene  was  over,  Darnley  and  Ruth- 


164        Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1566. 

Conversation.  Violence  of  the  conspirators. 

ven  came  coolly  back  into  Mary's  chamber, 
and,  as  soon  as  Mary  recovered  her  senses,  be- 
gan to  talk  of  and  to  justify  their  act  of  vio- 
lence, without,  however,  telling  her  that  Rizzio 
had  been  killed.  Mary  was  filled  with  emo- 
tions of  resentment  and  grief.  She  bitterly  re- 
proached Darnley  for  such  an  act  of  cruelty  as 
breaking  into  her  apartment  with  armed  men, 
and  seizing  and  carrying  off  her  friend.  She 
told  him  that  she  had  raised  him  from  his  com- 
paratively humble  position  to  make  him  her 
husband,  and  now  this  was  his  return.  Darn- 
ley  replied  that  Rizzio  had  supplanted  him  in 
her  confidence,  and  thwarted  all  his  plans,  and 
that  Mary  had  shown  herself  utterly  regardless 
of  his  wishes,  under  the  influence  of  Rizzio. 
He  said  that,  since  Mary  had  made  herself  his 
wife,  she  ought  to  have  obeyed  him,  and  not 
put  herself  in  such  a  way,  under  the  direction 
of  another.  Mary  learned  Rizzio's  fate  the 
next  day. 

The  violence  of  the  conspirators  did  not  stop 
with  the  destruction  of  Rizzio.  Some  of  Mary's 
high  officers  of  government,  who  were  in  the 
palace  at  the  time,  were  obliged  to  make  their 
escape  from  the  windows  to  avoid  being  seized 
by  Morton  and  his  soldiers  in  the  court.    Among 


1566.]  Rizzio.  165 

Mary  a  prisoner.  Darnley's  usurpation. 

them  was  the  Earl  Both  well,  who  tried  at  first 
to  drive  Morton  out,  but  in  the  end  was  obliged 
himself  to  flee.  Some  of  these  men  let  them- 
selves down  by  ropes  from  the  outer  windows. 
When  the  uproar  and  confusion  caused  by  this 
struggle  was  over,  they  found  that  Mary,  over- 
come with  agitation  and  terror,  was  showing 
symptoms  of  fainting  again,  and  they  concluded 
to  leave  her.  They  informed  her  that  she  must 
consider  herself  a  prisoner,  and,  setting  a  guard 
at  the  door  of  her  apartment,  they  went  away, 
leaving  her  to  spend  the  night  in  an  agony  of 
resentment,  anxiety,  and  fear. 

Lord  Darnley  took  the  government  at  once 
entirely  into  his  own  hands.  He  prorogued 
Parliament,  which  was  then  just  commencing 
a  session,  in  his  own  name  alone.  He  organ- 
ized an  administration,  Mary's  officers  having 
fled.  In  saying  that  he  did  these  things,  we 
mean,  of  course,  that  the  conspirators  did  them 
in  his  name.  He  was  still  but  a  boy,  scarcely 
out  of  his  teens,  and  incapable  of  any  other  ac- 
tion in  such  an  emergency  but  a  blind  compli- 
ance with  the  wishes  of  the  crafty  men  who 
had  got  him  into  their  power  by  gratifying  his 
feelings  of  revenge.  They  took  possession  of 
the  government  in  his  name,  and  kept  Mary  a 
close  prisoner. 


166        Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1566. 

Melville.  Mary  appeals  to  the  provost. 

The  murder  was  committed  on  Saturday- 
night.  The  next  morning,  of  course,  was  Sun- 
day. Melville  was  going  out  of  the  palace  about 
ten  o'clock.  As  he  passed  along  under  the  win- 
dow where  Mary  was  confined,  she  called  out 
to  him  for  help.  He  asked  her  what  he  could 
do  for  her.  She  told  him  to  go  to  the  provost 
of  Edinburgh,  the  officer  corresponding  to  the 
mayor  of  a  city  in  this  country,  and  ask  him  to 
call  out  the  city  guard,  and  come  and  release 
her  from  her  captivity.  "  Go  quick,"  said  she, 
1  i  or  the  guards  will  see  you  and  stop  you."  Just 
then  the  guards  came  up  and  challenged  Mel- 
ville. He  told  them  he  was  going  to  the  city 
to  attend  church ;  so  they  let  him  pass  on.  He 
went  to  the  provost,  and  delivered  Mary's  mes- 
sage. The  provost  said  he  dared  not,  and  could 
not  interfere. 

So  Mary  remained  a  prisoner.  Her  captiv- 
ity, however,  was  of  short  duration.  In  two 
days  Darnley  came  to  see  her.  He  persuaded 
her  that  he  himself  had  had  nothing  to  do  with 
the  murder  of  Rizzio.  Mary,  on  the  other  hand, 
persuaded  him  that  it  was  better  for  them  to  be 
friends  to  each  other  than  to  live  thus  in  a  per- 
petual quarrel.  She  convinced  him  that  Ruth- 
ven  and  his  confederates  were  not,  and  could 


1566.]  Rizzio.  167 

Mary  defeats  the  conspirators.  Birth  of  her  son. 

not  be,  his  friends.  They  would  only  make  him 
the  instrument  of  obtaining  the  objects  of  their 
ambition.  Darnley  saw  this.  He  felt  that  he 
as  well  as  Mary  were  in  the  rebels'  power. 
They  formed  a  plan  to  escape  together.  They 
succeeded.  They  fled  to  a  distant  castle,  and 
collected  a  large  army,  the  people  every  where 
flocking  to  the  assistance  of  the  queen.  They 
returned  to  Edinburgh  in  a  short  time  in  tri- 
umph. The  conspirators  fled.  Mary  then  de- 
cided to  pardon  and  recall  the  old  rebels,  and  ex- 
pend her  anger  henceforth  on  the  new ;  and 
thus  the  Earl  Murray,  her  brother,  was  brought 
back,  and  once  more  restored  to  favor. 

After  settling  all  these  troubles,  Mary  retired 
to  Edinburgh  Castle,  where  it  was  supposed  she 
could  be  best  protected,  and  in  the  month  of 
July  following  the  murder  of  Rizzio,  she  gave 
birth  to  a  son.  In  this  son  was  afterward  ac- 
complished all  her  fondest  wishes,  for  he  inher- 
ited in  the  end  both  the  English  and  Scottish 
crowns. 


168        Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1566. 

Earl  of  Bothwell.  His  desperate  character.  Castle  of  Dunbar. 


Chapter   VIII. 
Bothwell. 

THE  Earl  of  Bothwell  was  a  man  of  great 
energy  of  character,  fearless  and  decided  in 
all  that  he  undertook,  and  sometimes  perfectly 
reckless  and  uncontrollable.  He  was  in  Scot- 
land at  the  time  of  Mary's  return  from  France, 
but  he  was  so  turbulent  and  unmanageable  that 
he  was  at  one  time  sent  into  banishment.  He 
was,  however,  afterward  recalled,  and  again  in- 
trusted with  power.  He  entered  ardently  into 
Mary's  service  in  her  contest  with  the  murder- 
ers of  Rizzio.  He  assisted  her  in  raising  an 
army  after  her  flight,  and  in  conquering  Morton, 
Ruthven,  and  the  rest,  and  driving  them  out  of 
the  country.  Mary  soon  began  to  look  upon 
him  as,  notwithstanding  his  roughness,  her  best 
and  most  efficient  friend.  As  a  reward  for 
these  services,  she  granted  him  a  castle,  situ- 
ated in  a  romantic  position  on  the  eastern  coast 
of  Scotland.  It  was  called  the  Castle  of  Dun- 
bar. It  was  on  a  stormy  promontory,  over- 
looking the  German  Ocean :  a  very  appropriate 


1566.]  Both  well.  169 

The  border  country.  Scenes  of  violence  and  blood. 

retreat  and  fastness  for  such  a  man  of  iron 
as  he. 

In  those  days,  the  border  country  between 
England  and  Scotland  was  the  resort  of  rob- 
bers, freebooters,  and  outlaws  from  both  lands. 
If  pursued  by  one  government,  they  could  re- 
treat across  the  line  and  be  safe.  Incursions, 
too,  were  continually  made  across  this  frontier 
by  the  people  of  either  side,  to  plunder  or  to 
destroy  whatever  property  was  within  reach. 
Thus  the  country  became  a  region  of  violence 
and  bloodshed  which  all  men  of  peace  and  qui- 
etness were  glad  to  shun.  They  left  it  to  the 
possession  of  men  who  could  find  pleasure  in 
such  scenes  of  violence  and  blood.  "When  Queen 
Mary  had  got  quietly  settled  in  her  government, 
after  the  overthrow  of  the  murderers  of  Rizzio, 
as  she  thus  no  longer  needed  Bothwell's  imme- 
diate aid,  she  sent  him  to  this  border  country 
to  see  if  he  could  enforce  some  sort  of  order 
among  its  lawless  population. 

The  birth  of  Mary's  son  was  an  event  of  the 
greatest  importance,  not  only  to  her  personally, 
but  in  respect  to  the  political  prospects  of  the 
two  great  kingdoms,  for  in  this  infant  were 
combined  the  claims  of  succession  to  both  the 
Scotch  and  English  crowns.     The  whole  world 


170        Mary   Queen    of    Scots.      [1566. 

Birth  of  James.  Its  political  importance.  Darnley's  conduct. 

knew  that  if  Elizabeth  should  die  without  leav- 
ing a  direct  heir,  this  child  would  become  the 
monarch  both  of  England  and  Scotland,  and,  as 
such,  one  of  the  greatest  personages  in  Europe. 
His  birth,  therefore,  was  a  great  event,  and  it 
was  celebrated  in  Scotland  with  universal  re- 
joicings. The  tidings  of  it  spread,  as  news  of 
great  public  interest,  all  over  Europe.  Even 
Elizabeth  pretended  to  be  pleased,  and  sent  mes- 
sages of  congratulation  to  Mary.  But  every  one 
thought  that  they  could  see  in  her  air  and  man- 
ner, when  she  received  the  intelligence,  obvious 
traces  of  mortification  and  chagrin. 

Mary's  heart  was  filled,  at  first,  with  mater- 
nal pride  and  joy ;  but  her  happiness  was  soon 
sadly  alloyed  by  Darnley's  continued  unkind- 
ness.  She  traveled  about  during  the  autumn, 
from  castle  to  castle,  anxious  and  ill  at  ease. 
Sometimes  Darnley  followed  her,  and  some- 
times he  amused  himself  with  hunting,  and 
with  various  vicious  indulgences,  at  different 
towns  and  castles  at  a  distance  from  her.  He 
wanted  her  to  dismiss  her  ministry  and  put  him 
into  power,  and  he  took  every  possible  means 
to  importune  or  tease  her  into  compliance  with 
this  plan.  At  one  time  he  said  he  had  resolved 
to  leave  Scotland,  and  go  and  reside  in  France ; 


1566.]  Bothwell.  171 

Darnley's  hypocrisy.  Mary's  dejection. 

and  he  pretended  to  make  his  preparations,  and 
to  be  about  to  take  his  leave.  He  seems  to  have 
thought  that  Mary,  though  he  knew  that  she 
no  longer  loved  him,  would  be  distressed  at  the 
idea  of  being  abandoned  by  one  who  was,  after 
all,  her  husband.  Mary  was,  in  fact,  distressed 
at  this  proposal,  and  urged  him  not  to  go.  He 
seemed  determined,  and  took  his  leave.  Instead 
of  going  to  France,  however,  he  only  went  to 
Stirling  Castle. 

Darnley,  finding  that  he  could  not  accom- 
plish his  aims  by  such  methods  as  these,  wrote, 
it  is  said,  to  the  Catholic  governments  of  Eu- 
rope, proposing  that,  if  they  would  co-operate 
in  putting  him  into  power  in  Scotland,  he  would 
adopt  efficient  measures  for  changing  the  relig- 
ion of  the  country  from  the  Protestant  to  the 
Catholic  faith.  He  made,  too,  every  effort  to 
organize  a  party  in  his  favor  in  Scotland,  and 
tried  to  defeat  and  counteract  the  influence  of 
Mary's  government  by  every  means  in  his  pow- 
er. These  things,  and  other  trials  and  difficul- 
ties connected  with  them,  weighed  very  heav- 
ily upon  Mary's  mind.  She  sunk  gradually 
into  a  state  of  great  dejection  and  despondency. 
She  spent  many  hours  in  sighing  and  in  tears, 
and  often  wished  that  she  was  in  her  grave. 


172         Mary   Queen   of   Scots.     [1566. 

A  divorce  proposed.  Mary's  love  for  her  child. 

So  deeply,  in  fact,  was  Mary  plunged  into 
distress  and  trouble  by  the  state  of  things  ex- 
isting between  herself  and  Darnley,  that  some 
of  her  officers  of  government  began  to  conceive 
of  a  plan  of  having  her  divorced  from  him. 
After  looking  at  this  subject  in  all  its  bearings, 
and  consulting  about  it  with  each  other,  they 
ventured,  at  last,  to  propose  it  to  Mary.  She 
would  not  listen  to  any  such  plan.  She  did 
not  think  a  divorce  could  be  legally  accom- 
plished. And  then,  if  it  were  to  be  done,  it 
would,  she  feared,  in  some  way  or  other,  affect 
the  position  and  rights  of  the  darling  son  who 
was  now  to  her  more  than  all  the  world  be- 
sides. She  would  rather  endure  to  the  end  of 
her  days  the  tyranny  and  torment  she  experi- 
enced from  her  brutal  husband,  than  hazard  in 
the  least  degree  the  future  greatness  and  glory 
of  the  infant  who  was  lying  in  his  cradle  be- 
fore her,  equally  unconscious  of  the  grandeur 
which  awaited  him  in  future  years,  and  of  the 
strength  of  the  maternal  love  which  was  smil- 
ing upon  him  from  amid  such  sorrow  and 
tears,  and  extending  over  him  such  gentle,  but 
determined  and  effectual  protection. 

The  sad  and  sorrowful  feelings  which  Mary 
endured  were  interrupted  for  a  little  time  by 


1566.]  Bothwell.  173 

Baptism  of  the  infant.  James's  titles. 

the  splendid  pageant  of  the  baptism  of  the  child. 
Embassadors  came  from  all  the  important  courts 
of  the  Continent,  to  do  honor  to  the  occasion. 
Elizabeth  sent  the  Earl  of  Bedford  as  her  em- 
bassador, with  a  present  of  a  baptismal  font  of 
gold,  which  had  cost  more  than  five  thousand 
dollars.  The  baptism  took  place  at  Stirling,  in 
December,  with  every  possible  accompaniment 
of  pomp  and  parade,  and  was  followed  by  many 
days  of  festivities  and  rejoicing.  The  whole 
country  were  interested  in  the  event  except 
Darnley,  who  declared  sullenly,  while  the  prep- 
arations were  making,  that  he  should  not  re- 
main to  witness  the  ceremony,  but  should  go 
off  a  day  or  two  before  the  appointed  time. 

The  ceremony  was  performed  in  the  chapel. 
The  child  was  baptized  under  the  names  of 
"  Charles  James,  James  Charles,  Prince  and 
Steward  of  Scotland,  Duke  of  Hothesay,  Earl 
of  Carrick,  Lord  of  the  Isles,  and  Baron  of  Ren- 
frew." His  subsequent  designation  in  history 
was  James  Sixth  of  Scotland  and  First  of  En- 
gland. A  great  many  appointments  of  attend- 
ants and  officers,  to  be  attached  to  the  service 
of  the  young  prince,  were  made  immediately, 
most  of  them,  of  course,  mere  matters  of  pa- 
rade.    Among  the  rest,  five  ladies  of  distinc- 


174         Mary  Queen   of    Scots.     [1566. 

Bothwell  and  Murray. 


The  prince's  cradle. 


tion  were  constituted  "rockers  of  his  cradle." 
The  form  of  the  young  prince's  cradle  has  come 
down  to  us  in  an  ancient  drawing. 


In  due  time  after  the  coronation,  the  various 
embassadors  and  delegates  returned  to  their  re- 
spective courts,  carrying  back  glowing  accounts 
of  the  ceremonies  and  festivities  attendant  upon 
the  christening,  and  of  the  grace,  and  beauty, 
and  loveliness  of  the  queen. 

In  the  mean  time,  Bothwell  and  Murray 
were  competitors  for  the  confidence  and  regard 
of  the  queen,  and  it  began  to  seem  probable 
that  Bothwell  would  win  the  day.  Mary,  in 
one  of  her  excursions,  was  traveling  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  country,  when  she  heard 
that  he  had  been  wounded  in  an  encounter 
with  a  party  of  desperadoes  near  the  border. 


1566.]  Bothwell.  175 

Mary's  visit  to  Bothwell.  Its  probable  motive. 

Moved  partly,  perhaps,  by  compassion,  and 
partly  by  gratitude  for  his  services,  Mary 
made  an  expedition  across  the  country  to  pay 
him  a  visit.  Some  say  that  she  was  animated 
by  a  more  powerful  motive  than  either  of  these. 
In  fact  this,  as  well  as  almost  all  the  other  acts 
of  Mary's  life,  are  presented  in  very  different 
lights  by  her  friends  and  her  enemies.  The 
former  say  that  this  visit  to  her  lieutenant  in 
his  confinement  from  a  wound  received  in  her 
service  was  perfectly  proper,  both  in  the  design 
itself,  and  in  all  the  circumstances  of  its  exe- 
cution. The  latter  represent  it  as  an  instance 
of  highly  indecorous  eagerness  on  the  part  of  a 
married  lady  to  express  to  another  man  a  sym- 
pathy and  kind  regard  which  she  had  ceased  to 
feel  for  her  husband. 

Bothwell  himself  was  married  as  well  as 
Mary.  He  had  been  married  but  a  few  months 
to  a  beautiful  lady  a  few  years  younger  than 
the  queen.  The  question,  however,  whether 
Mary  did  right  or  wrong  in  paying  this  visit  to 
him,  is  not,  after  all,  a  very  important  one. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  she  and  Bothwell  loved 
each  other  before  they  ought  to  have  done  so, 
and  it  is  of  comparatively  little  consequence 
when  the  attachment  began.     The  end  of  it  is 


176         Mary   Queen   of   Scots.     [1567. 

Plot  for  Darnley's  destruction.  Bothwell's  intrigues. 

certain.  Both  well  resolved  to  kill  Darnley,  to 
get  divorced  from  his  own  wife,  and  to  marry 
the  queen.  The  world  has  never  yet  settled 
the  question  whether  she  was  herself  his  accom- 
plice or  not  in  the  measures  he  adopted  for  ef- 
fecting these  plans,  or  whether  she  only  sub- 
mitted to  the  result  when  Bothwell,  by  his  own 
unaided  efforts,  reached  it.  Each  reader  must 
judge  of  this  question  for  himself  from  the  facts 
about  to  be  narrated. 

Bothwell  first  communicated  with  the  nobles 
about  the  court,  to  get  their  consent  and  ap- 
probation to  the  destruction  of  the  king.  They 
all  appeared  to  be  very  willing  to  have  the  thing 
done,  but  were  a  little  cautious  about  involv- 
ing themselves  in  the  responsibility  of  doing  it. 
Darnley  was  thoroughly  hated,  despised,  and 
shunned  by  them  all.  Still  they  were  afraid 
of  the  consequences  of  taking  his  life.  One  of 
them,  Morton,  asked  Bothwell  what  the  queen 
would  think  of  the  plan.  Bothwell  said  that 
the  queen  approved  of  it.  Morton  replied,  that 
if  Bothwell  would  show  him  an  expression  of 
the  queen's  approval  of  the  plot,  in  her  own 
hand- writing,  he  would  join  it,  otherwise  not. 
Bothwell  failed  to  furnish  this  evidence,  saying 
that  the  queen  was  really  privy  to,  and  in  favor 


1567.]  Bothwell.  177 

Desperate  schemes  attributed  to  Darnley.       His  illness.       Mary's  visit. 

of  the  plan,  but  that  it  was  not  to  be  expected 
that  she  would  commit  herself  to  it  in  writing. 
Was  this  all  true,  or  was  the  pretense  only  a 
desperate  measure  of  Bothwell's  to  induce  Mor- 
ton to  join  him  ? 

Most  of  the  leading  men  about  the  court, 
however,  either  joined  the  plot,  or  so  far  gave 
it  their  countenance  and  encouragement  as  to 
induce  Bothwell  to  proceed.  There  were  many 
and  strange  rumors  about  Darnley.  One  was, 
that  he  was  actually  going  to  leave  the  coun- 
try, and  that  a  ship  was  ready  for  him  in  the 
Clyde.  Another  was,  that  he  had  a  plan  for 
seizing  the  young  prince,  dethroning  Mary,  and 
reigning  himself  in  her  stead,  in  the  prince's 
name.  Other  strange  and  desperate  schemes 
were  attributed  to  him.  In  the  midst  of  them, 
news  came  to  Mary  at  Holy  rood  that  he  was 
taken  suddenly  and  dangerously  sick  at  Glas- 
gow, where  he  was  then  residing,  and  she  im- 
mediately went  to  see  him.  Was  her  motive 
a  desire  to  make  one  more  attempt  to  win  his 
confidence  and  love,  and  to  divert  him  from  the 
desperate  measures  which  she  feared  he  was  con- 
templating, or  was  she  acting,  as  an  accomplice 
with  Bothwell,  to  draw  him  into  the  snare  in 
which  he  was  afterward  taken  and  destroved  ? 
12 


178         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1567. 

Return  to  Edinburgh.  Situation  of  Darnley's  residence. 

The  result  of  Mary's  visit  to  her  husband, 
after  some  time  spent  with  him  in  Glasgow, 
was  a  proposal  that  he  should  return  with  her 
to  Edinburgh,  where  she  could  watch  over  him 
during  his  convalescence  with  greater  care. 
This  plan  was  adopted.  He  was  conveyed  on 
a  sort  of  litter,  by  very  slow  and  easy  stages, 
toward  Edinburgh.  He  was  on  such  terms 
with  the  nobles  and  lords  in  attendance  upon 
Mary  that  he  was  not  willing  to  go  to  Holy- 
rood  House.  Besides,  his  disorder  was  conta- 
gious :  it  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  small- 
pox ;  and  though  he  was  nearly  recovered,  there 
was  still  some  possibility  that  the  royal  babe 
might  take  the  infection  if  the  patient  came 
within  the  same  walls  with  him.  So  Mary  sent 
forward  to  Edinburgh  to  have  a  house  provided 
for  him. 

"The  situation  of  this  house  is  seen  near  the  city 
wall  on  the  left,  in  the  accompanying  view  of 
Edinburgh.  Holyrood  House  is  the  large  square 
edifice  in  the  fore-ground,  and  the  castle  crowns 
the  hill  in  the  distance.  There  is  now,  as  there 
was  in  the  days  of  Mary,  a  famous  street  ex- 
tending from  Holyrood  House  to  the  castle,  call- 
ed the  Cannon  Gate  at  the  lower  end,  and  the 
High  Street  above.     This  street,  with  the  cas- 


■HMM 


1567.1  Both  well.  ]81 


Kirk  of  Field.  Description  of  Darnley's  residence. 

tie  at  one  extremity  and  Holyrood  House  at 
the  other,  were  the  scenes  of  many  of  the 
most  remarkable  events  described  in  this  nar- 
rative. 

The  residence  selected  was  a  house  of  four 
rooms,  close  upon  the  city  wall.  The  place 
was  called  the  Kirk  of  Field,  from  a  kirk,  or 
church,  which  formerly  stood  near  there,  in  the 
fields. 

This  house  had  two  rooms  upon  the  lower 
floor,  with  a  passage-way  between  them.  One 
of  these  rooms  was  a  kitchen  ;  the  other  was 
appropriated  to  Mary's  use,  whenever  she  was 
able  to  be  at  the  place  in  attendance  upon  her 
husband.  Over  the  kitchen  was  a  room  used 
as  a  wardrobe  and  for  servants  ;  and  over  Ma- 
ry's room  was  the  apartment  for  Darnley. 
There  was  an  opening  through  the  city  wall  in 
the  rear  of  this  dwelling,  by  which  there  was 
access  to  the  kitchen.  These  premises  were 
fitted  up  for  Darnley  in  the  most  thorough  man- 
ner. A  bath  was  arranged  for  him  in  his  apart- 
ment, and  every  thing  was  done  which  could 
be  done  for  his  comfort,  according  to  the  ideas 
which  then  prevailed.  Darnley  was  brought  to 
Edinburgh,  conveyed  to  this  house,  and  quietly 
established  there. 


182        Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1567. 


Plan  of  Darnley's  house. 


Its  accommodations. 


The  following  is  a  plan  of  the  house  in  which 
Darnley  was  lodged : 


M.  Mary's  room,  below  Darnley's.  K.  Kitchen  ;  servants'  room  above. 
O.  Passage  through  the  city  wall  into  the  kitchen.  S.  Stair-case  leading 
to  the  second  story.    P.  Passage-way. 

The  accommodations  in  this  house  do  not 
seem  to  have  been  very  sumptuous,  after  all, 
for  a  royal  guest ;  but  royal  dwellings  in  Scot- 
land, in  those  days,  were  not  what  they  are  now 
in  Westminster  and  at  St.  Cloud. 

The  day  for  the  execution  of  their  plan,  which 
was,  to  blow  up  the  house  where  the  sick  Darn- 
ley  was  lying,  with    gunpowder,  approached. 


1567.]  Both  we  ll.  183 

French  Paris.  The  gunpowder.  A  wedding. 

Bothwell  selected  a  number  of  desperate  char- 
acters to  aid  him  in  the  actual  work  to  be  done. 
One  of  these  was  a  Frenchman,  who  had  been 
for  a  long  time  in  his  service,  and  who  went 
commonly  by  the  name  of  French  Paris.  Both- 
well  contrived  to  get  French  Paris  taken  into 
Mary's  service  a  few  days  before  the  murder  of 
Darnley,  and,  through  him,  he  got  possession  of 
some  of  the  keys  of  the  house  which  Darnley 
was  occupying,  and  thus  had  duplicates  of  them 
made,  so  that  he  had  access  to  every  part  of 
the  house.  The  gunpowder  was  brought  from 
Bothwell's  castle  at  Dunbar,  and  all  was  ready. 
Mary  spent  much  of  her  time  at  Darnley's 
house,  and  often  slept  in  the  room  beneath  his, 
which  had  been  allotted  to  her  as  her  apart- 
ment. One  Sunday  there  was  to  be  a  wedding 
at  Holyrood.  The  bride  and  bridegroom  were 
favorite  servants  of  Mary's,  and  she  was  intend- 
ing to  be  present  at  the  celebration  of  the  nup- 
tials. She  was  to  leave  Darnley's  early  in  the 
evening  for  this  purpose.  Her  enemies  say 
that  this  was  all  a  concerted  arrangement  be- 
tween her  and  Bothwell  to  give  him  the  oppor- 
tunity to  execute  his  plan.  Her  friends,  on  the 
other  hand,  insist  that  she  knew  nothing  about 
it,  and  that  Bothwell  had  to  watch  and  wait  for 


184         Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1567 

Details  of  the  plot.  The  powder  placed  in  Mary's  room. 

such  an  opportunity  of  blowing  up  the  house 
without  injuring  Mary.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the 
Sunday  of  this  wedding  was  fixed  upon  for  the 
consummation  of  the  deed. 

The  gunpowder  had  been  secreted  in  Both- 
well's  rooms  at  the  palace.  On  Sunday  even- 
ing, as  soon  as  it  was  dark,  Bothwell  set  the 
men  at  work  to  transport  the  gunpowder.  They 
brought  it  out  in  bags  from  the  palace,  and  then 
employed  a  horse  to  transport  it  to  the  wall  of 
some  gardens  which  were  in  the  rear  of  Darn- 
ley's  house.  They  had  to  go  twice  with  the 
horse  in  order  to  convey  all  the  gunpowder  that 
they  had  provided.  While  this  was  going  on, 
Bothwell,  who  kept  out  of  sight,  was  walking 
to  and  fro  in  an  adjoining  street,  to  receive  in- 
telligence, from  time  to  time,  of  the  progress  of 
the  affair,  and  to  issue  orders.  The  gunpow- 
der was  conveyed  across  the  gardens  to  the  rear 
of  the  house,  taken  in  at  a  back  door,  and  de- 
posited in  the  room  marked  M  in  the  plan, 
which  was  the  room  belonging  to  Mary.  Mary 
was  all  this  time  directly  over  head,  in  Darnley's 
chamber. 

The  plan  of  the  conspirators  was  to  put  the 
bags  of  gunpowder  into  a  cask  which  they  had 
provided  for  the  occasion,  to  keep  the  mass  to- 


1567.]  Both  well.  185 

The  big  cask.  Bothwell's  effrontery.  Mary's  leave  of  Darnley. 

gether,  and  increase  the  force  of  the  explosion 
The  cask  had  been  provided,  and  placed  in  the 
gardens  behind  the  house  ;  but,  on  attempting 
to  take  it  into  the  house,  they  found  it  too  big 
to  pass  through  the  back  door.  This  caused  con- 
siderable delay ;  and  Bothwell,  growing  impa- 
tient, came,  with  his  characteristic  impetuos- 
ity, to  ascertain  the  cause.  By  his  presence 
and  his  energy,  he  soon  remedied  the  difficulty 
in  some  way  or  other,  and  completed  the  ar- 
rangements. The  gunpowder  was  all  deposit- 
ed ;  the  men  were  dismissed,  except  two,  who 
were  left  to  watch,  and  who  were  locked  up 
with  the  gunpowder  in  Mary's  room ;  and  then, 
all  things  being  ready  for  the  explosion  as  soon 
as  Mary  should  be  gone,  Bothwell  walked  up 
to  Darnley's  room  above,  and  joined  the  party 
who  were  supping  there.  The  cool  effrontery 
of  this  proceeding  has  scarcely  a  parallel  in  the 
annals  of  crime. 

At  eleven  o'clock  Mary  rose  to  go,  saying 
she  must  return  to  the  palace  to  take  part,  as 
she  had  promised  to  do,  in  the  celebration  of 
her  servants'  wedding.  Mary  took  leave  of  her 
husband  in  a  very  affectionate  manner,  and  went 
away  in  company  with  Bothwell  and  the  other 
nobles.     Her  enemies  maintain  that  she  was 


186         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.    [1567 

Was  Mary  privy  to  the  plot  ?  Anecdotes  of  Mary, 

privy  to  all  the  arrangements  which  had  been 
made,  and  that  she  did  not  go  into  her  own 
apartment  below,  knowing  very  well  what  was 
there.  But  even  if  we  imagine  that  Mary  was 
aware  of  the  general  plan  of  destroying  her  hus- 
band, and  was  secretly  pleased  with  it,  as  al- 
most any  royal  personage  that  ever  lived,  under 
such  circumstances,  would  be,  we  need  not  ad- 
mit that  she  was  acquainted  with  the  details  of 
the  mode  by  which  the  plan  was  to  be  put  in 
execution.  The  most  that  we  can  suppose  such 
a  man  as  Both  well  would  have  communicated 
to  her,  would  be  some  dark  and  obscure  inti- 
mations of  his  design,  made  in  order  to  satisfy 
himself  that  she  would  not  really  oppose  it.  To 
ask  her,  woman  as  she  was,  to  take  any  part 
in  such  a  deed,  or  to  communicate  to  her  be- 
forehand any  of  the  details  of  the  arrangement, 
would  have  been  an  act  of  littleness  and  mean- 
ness which  such  magnanimous  monsters  as  Both- 
well  are  seldom  guilty  of. 

Besides,  Mary  remarked  that  evening,  in 
Darnley's  room,  in  the  course  of  conversation, 
that  it  was  just  about  a  year  since  Rizzio's 
death.  On  entering  her  palace,  too,  at  Holy- 
rood,  that  night,  she  met  one  of  Both  well's  serv- 
ants who  had  been  carrying  the  bags,  and,  per- 


1567.]  Bothwell.  187 

Return  to  Holyfood.  French  Paris  falters. 

ceiving  the  smell  of  gunpowder,  she  asked  him 
what  it  meant.  Now  Mary  was  not  the  bra- 
zen-faced sort  of  woman  to  speak  of  such  things 
at  such  a  time  if  she  was  really  in  the  councils 
of  the  conspirators.  The  only  question  seems 
to  be,  therefore,  not  whether  she  was  a  party  to 
the  actual  deed  of  murder,  but  only  whether 
she  was  aware  of,  and  consenting  to,  the  gen- 
eral design. 

In  the  mean  time,  Mary  and  Bothwell  went 
together  into  the  hall  where  the  servants  were 
rejoicing  and  making  merry  at  the  wedding. 
French  Paris  was  there,  but  his  heart  began  to 
fail  him  in  respect  to  the  deed  in  which  he  had 
been  engaged.  He  stood  apart,  with  a  coun- 
tenance expressive  of  anxiety  and  distress. 
Bothwell  went  to  him,  and  told  him  that  if  he 
carried  such  a  melancholy  face  as  that  any  lon- 
ger in  the  presence  of  the  queen,  he  would  make 
him  suffer  for  it.  The  poor,  conscience-stricken 
man  begged  Bothwell  to  release  him  from  any 
further  part  in  the  transaction.  He  was  sick, 
really  sick,  he  said,  and  he  wanted  to  go  home 
to  his  bed.  Bothwell  made  no  reply  but  to  or- 
der him  to  follow  him.  Bothwell  went  to  his 
own  rooms,  changed  the  silken  court  dress  in 
which  he  had  appeared  in  company  for  one  suit- 


188         Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1567 

The  convent  gardens.  Laying  the  train. 

able  to  the  night  and  to  the  deed,  directed  his 
men  to  follow  him,  and  passed  from  the  palace 
toward  the  gates  of  the  city.  The  gates  were 
shut,  for  it  was  midnight.  The  sentinels  chal- 
lenged them.  The  party  said  they  were  friends 
to  my  Lord  Bothwell,  and  were  allowed  to  pass 
on. 

They  advanced  to  the  convent  gardens. 
Here  they  left  a  part  of  their  number,  while 
Bothwell  and  French  Paris  passed  over  the 
wall,  and  crept  softly  into  the  house.  They 
unlocked  the  room  where  they  had  left  the  two 
watchmen  with  the  gunpowder,  and  found  all 
safe.  Men  locked  up  under  such  circumstan- 
ces, and  on  the  eve  of  the  perpetration  of  such 
a  deed,  were  not  likely  to  sleep  at  their  posts. 
All  things  being  now  ready,  they  made  a  slow 
match  of  lint,  long  enough  to  burn  for  some 
little  time,  and  inserting  one  end  of  it  into  the 
gunpowder,  they  lighted  the  other  end,  and 
crept  stealthily  out  of  the  apartment.  They 
passed  over  the  wall  into  the  convent  gardens, 
where  they  rejoined  their  companions  and  await- 
ed the  result. 

Men  choose  midnight  often  for  the  perpetra- 
tion of  crime,  from  the  facilities  afforded  by  its 
silence  and  solitude.     This  advantage  is,  how- 


1567.]  Bothwell.  189 

Suspense.  The  explosion.  Flight  of  the  criminals. 

ever,  sometimes  well-nigh  balanced  by  the  stim- 
ulus which  its  mysterious  solemnity  brings  to 
the  stings  of  remorse  and  terror.  Bothwell 
himself  felt  anxious  and  agitated.  They  wait- 
ed and  waited,  but  it  seemed  as  if  their  dread- 
ful suspense  would  never  end.  Bothwell  be- 
came desperate.  He  wanted  to  get  over  the 
wall  again  and  look  in  at  the  window,  to  see  if 
the  slow  match  had  not  gone  out.  The  rest 
restrained  him.  At  length  the  explosion  came 
like  a  clap  of  thunder.  The  flash  brightened 
for  an  instant  over  the  whole  sky,  and  the  re- 
port roused  the  sleeping  inhabitants  of  Edin- 
burgh from  their  slumbers,  throwing  the  whole 
city  into  sudden  consternation. 

The  perpetrators  of  the  deed,  finding  that 
their  work  was  done,  fled  immediately.  They 
tried  various  plans  to  avoid  the  sentinels  at  the 
gates  of  the  city,  as  well  as  the  persons  who 
were  beginning  to  come  toward  the  scene  of 
the  explosion.  When  they  reached  the  palace 
of  Holyrood,  they  were  challenged  by  the  sen- 
tinel on  duty  there.  They  said  that  they  were 
friends  of  Earl  Bothwell,  bringing  dispatches  to 
him  from  the  country.  The  sentinel  asked 
them  if  they  knew  what  was  the  cause  of  that 
loud  explosion  They  said  they  did  not,  and 
passed  on. 


190         Mary   Queen    of   Scots.     [1567. 

Mary's  indignation.  Bothwell  arrested,  tried,  and  acquitted. 

Both  well  went  to  his  room,  called  for  a  drink, 
undressed  himself,  and  went  to  bed.  Half  an 
hour  afterward,  messengers  came  to  awaken 
him,  and  inform  him  that  the  king's  house  had 
been  blown  up  with  gunpowder,  and  the  king 
himself  killed  by  the  explosion.  He  rose  with 
an  appearance  of  great  astonishment  and  indig- 
nation, and,  after  conferring  with  some  of  the 
other  nobles,  concluded  to  go  and  communicate 
the  event  to  the  queen.  The  queen  was  over- 
whelmed with  astonishment  and  indignation  too. 

The  destruction  of  Darnley  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  this,  of  course  produced  a  vast  sensation 
all  over  Scotland.  Every  body  was  on  the  alert 
to  discover  the  authors  of  the  crime.  Rewards 
were  offered ;  proclamations  were  made.  Ru- 
mors began  to  circulate  that  Bothwell  was 
the  criminal.  He  was  accused  by  anonymous 
placards  put  up  at  night  in  Edinburgh.  Len- 
nox, Darnley's  father,  demanded  his  trial ;  and 
a  trial  was  ordered.  The  circumstances  of  the 
trial  were  such,  however,  and  Bothwell's  power 
and  desperate  recklessness  were  so  great,  that 
Lennox,  when  the  time  came,  did  not  appear. 
He  said  he  had  not  force  enough  at  his  com- 
mand to  come  safely  into  court.  There  being 
no  testimony  offered,  Bothwell  was  acquitted ; 


1567.]  Both  well.  191 

Bothwell's  challenge.  His  plan  to  marry  Mary. 

and  he  immediately  afterward  issued  his  proc- 
lamation, offering  to  fight  any  man  who  should 
intimate,  in  any  way,  that  he  was  concerned  in 
the  murder  of  the  king.  Thus  Bothwell  estab- 
lished his  innocence ;  at  least,  no  man  dared  to 
gainsay  it. 

Darnley  was  murdered  in  February.  Both- 
well  was  tried  and  acquitted  in  April.  Imme- 
diately afterward,  he  took  measures  for  private- 
ly making  known  to  the  leading  nobles  that  it 
was  his  design  to  marry  the  queen,  and  for  se- 
curing their  concurrence  in  the  plan.  They 
concurred ;  or  at  least,  perhaps,  for  fear  of  dis- 
pleasing such  a  desperado,  said  what  he  under- 
stood to  mean  that  they  concurred.  The  queen 
heard  the  reports  of  such  a  design,  and  said,  as 
ladies  often  do  in  similar  cases,  that  she  did  not 
know  what  people  meant  by  such  reports ;  there 
was  no  foundation  for  them  whatever. 

Toward  the  end  of  April,  Mary  was  about 
returning  from  the  castle  of  Stirling  to  Edin- 
burgh with  a  small  escort  of  troops  and  attend- 
ants. Melville  was  in  her  train.  Bothwell 
set  out  at  the  head  of  a  force  of  more  than  five 
hundred  men  to  intercept  her.  Mary  lodged 
one  night,  on  her  way,  at  Linlithgow,  the  pal- 
ace where  she  was  born,  and  the  next  morning 


192         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

The  abduction.        Mary's  confinement  at  Dunbar.        Her  account  of  it. 

was  quietly  pursuing  her  journey,  when  Both- 
well  came  up  at  the  head  of  his  troops.  Resist- 
ance was  vain.  Bothwell  advanced  to  Mary's 
horse,  and,  taking  the  bridle,  led  her  away.  A 
few  of  her  principal  followers  were  taken  pris- 
oners too,  and  the  rest  were  dismissed.  Both- 
well  took  his  captive  across  the  country  by  a 
rapid  flight  to  his  castle  of  Dunbar.  The  at- 
tendants who  were  taken  with  her  were  releas- 
ed, and  she  remained  in  the  Castle  of  Dunbar 
for  ten  days,  entirely  in  Both  well's  power. 

According  to  the  account  which  Mary  her- 
self gives  of  what  took  place  during  this  cap- 
tivity, she  at  first  reproached  Bothwell  bitterly 
for  the  ungrateful  and  cruel  return  he  was  mak- 
ing for  all  her  kindness  to  him,  by  such  a  deed 
of  violence  and  wrong,  and  begged  and  entreat- 
ed him  to  let  her  go.  Bothwell  replied  that  he 
knew  that  it  was  wrong  for  him  to  treat  his 
sovereign  so  rudely,  but  that  he  was  impelled 
to  it  by  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  and  by 
love  which  he  felt  for  her,  which  was  too  strong 
for  him  to  control.  He  then  entreated  her  to 
become  his  wife ;  he  complained  of  the  bitter 
hostility  which  he  had  always  been  subject  to 
from  his  enemies,  and  that  he  could  have  no 
safeguard  from  this  hostility  in  time  to  come, 


1567.]  Bothwell.  195 

Bothwell  entreats  Mary  to  marry  him.  She  consents. 

but  iii  her  favor  ;  and  he  could  not  depend  upon 
any  assurance  of  her  favor  less  than  her  mak- 
ing him  her  husband.  He  protested  that,  if 
she  would  do  so,  he  would  never  ask  to  share 
her  power,  but  would  be  content  to  be  her  faith- 
ful and  devoted  servant,  as  he  had  always  been. 
It  was  love,  not  ambition,  he  said,  that  animat- 
ed him,  and  he  could  not  and  would  not  be  re- 
fused. Mary  says  that  she  was  distressed  and 
agitated  beyond  measure  by  the  appeals  and 
threats  with  which  Bothwell  accompanied  his 
urgent  entreaties.  She  tried  every  way  to  plan 
some  mode  of  escape.  Nobody  came  to  her 
rescue.  She  was  entirely  alone,  and  in  Both- 
well's  power.  Bothwell  assured  her  that  the 
leading  nobles  of  her  court  were  in  favor  of  the 
marriage,  and  showed  her  a  written  agreement 
signed  by  them  to  this  effect.  At  length, 
wearied  and  exhausted,  she  was  finally  over- 
come by  his  urgency,  and  yielding  partly  to 
his  persuasions,  and  partly,  as  she  says,  to 
force,  gave  herself  up  to  his  power. 

Mary  remained  at  Dunbar  about  ten  days, 
during  which  time  Bothwell  sued  out  and  ob- 
tained a  divorce  from  his  wife.  His  wife,  feel- 
ing, perhaps,  resentment  more  than  grief,  sued, 
at  the  same  time,  for  a  divorce  from  him.    Both- 


196         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Bothwell's  pardon.  The  marriage.  Doubts  in  respect  to  Mary. 

well  then  sallied  forth  from  his  fastness  at 
Dunbar,  and,  taking  Mary  with  him,  went  to 
Edinburgh,  and  took  up  his  abode  in  the  cas- 
tle there,  as  that  fortress  was  then  under  his 
power.  Mary  soon  after  appeared  in  public, 
and  stated  that  she  was  now  entirely  free,  and 
that,  although  Bothwell  had  done  wrong  in  car- 
rying her  away  by  violence,  still  he  had  treated 
her  since  in  so  respectful  a  manner,  that  she 
had  pardoned  him,  and  had  received  him  into 
favor  again.  A  short  time  after  this  they  were 
married.  The  ceremony  was  performed  in  a 
very  private  and  unostentatious  manner,  and 
took  place  in  May,  about  three  months  after 
the  murder  of  Darnley. 

By  some  persons  Mary's  account  of  the  trans- 
actions at  Dunbar  is  believed.  Others  think 
that  the  whole  affair  was  all  a  preconcerted 
plan,  and  that  the  appearance  of  resistance  on 
her  part  was  only  for  show,  to  justify,  in  some 
degree,  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  so  imprudent 
and  inexcusable  a  marriage.  A  great  many 
volumes  have  been  written  on  the  question, 
without  making  any  progress  toward  a  settle- 
ment of  it.  It  is  one  of  those  cases  where,  the 
evidence  being  complicated,  conflicting,  and  in- 
complete, the  mind  is  swayed  by  the  feelings. 


1567.]  Both  well.  197 

Influence  of  beauty  and  misfortune. 

and  the  readers  of  the  story  decide  more  or  less 
favorably  for  the  unhappy  queen,  according  to 
the  warmth  of  the  interest  awakened  in  their 
hearts  by  beauty  and  misfortune. 


198         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Mary's  infataation.  Excuses  for  her. 


Chapter    IX. 
The    Fall    of    Bothwell. 

rflHE  course  which  Mary  pursued  after  her 
-*-  liberation  from  Dunbar  in  yielding  to  Both- 
well's  wishes,  pardoning  his  violence,  receiving 
him  again  into  favor,  and  becoming  his  wife,  is 
one  of  the  most  extraordinary  instances  of  the 
infatuation  produced  by  love  that  has  ever  oc- 
curred. If  the  story  had  been  fiction  instead 
of  truth,  it  would  have  been  pronounced  extrav- 
agant and  impossible.  As  it  was,  the  whole 
country  was  astonished  and  confounded  at  such 
a  rapid  succession  of  desperate  and  unaccount- 
able crimes.  Mary  herself  seems  to  have  been 
hurried  through  these  terrible  scenes  in  a  sort  of 
delirium  of  excitement,  produced  by  the  strange 
circumstances  of  the  case,  and  the  wild  and  un- 
controllable agitations  to  which  they  gave  rise. 
Such  was,  however,  at  the  time,  and  such 
continues  to  be  still,  the  feeling  of  interest  in 
Mary's  character  and  misfortunes,  that  but  few 
open  and  direct  censures  of  her  conduct  were 


1567.]         Fall    of   Bothwell.  199 

iUary's  deep  depression.  Interposition  of  the  King  of  France. 

then,  or  have  been  since,  expressed.  People 
execrated  Bothwell,  but  they  were  silent  in  re- 
spect to  Mary.  It  was  soon  plain,  however, 
that  she  had  greatly  sunk  in  their  regard,  and 
that  the  more  they  reflected  upon  the  circum- 
stances of  the  case,  the  deeper  she  was  sinking. 
When  the  excitement,  too,  began  to  pass  away 
from  her  own  mind,  it  left  behind  it  a  gnawing 
inquietude  and  sense  of  guilt,  which  grew  grad- 
ually more  and  more  intense,  until,  at  length, 
she  sunk  under  the  stings  of  remorse  and  de- 
spair. 

Her  sufferings  were  increased  by  the  evi- 
dences which  were  continually  coming  to  her 
mind  of  the  strong  degree  of  disapprobation  with 
which  her  conduct  began  soon  every  where  to 
be  regarded.  Wherever  Scotchmen  traveled, 
they  found  themselves  reproached  with  the 
deeds  of  violence  and  crime  of  which  their 
country  had  been  the  scene.  Mary's  relatives 
and  friends  in  France  wrote  to  her,  expressing 
their  surprise  and  grief  at  such  proceedings. 
The  King  of  France  had  sent,  a  short  time  be- 
fore, a  special  embassador  for  the  purpose  of 
doing  something,  if  possible,  to  discover  and 
punish  the  murderers  of  the  king.  His  name 
was  Le  Croc.     He  was  an  aged  and  venerable 


200         Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Both  well  at  Edinburgh  Castle.  He  is  hated  by  the  people. 

man,  of  great  prudence  and  discretion,  well 
qualified  to  discover  and  pursue  the  way  of  es- 
cape from  the  difficulties  in  which  Mary  had 
involved  herself,  if  any  such  way  could  be  found. 
He  arrived  before  the  day  of  Mary's  marriage, 
but  he  refused  to  take  any  part,  or  even  to  be 
present,  at  the  ceremony. 

In  the  mean  time,  Both  well  continued  in  Ed- 
inburgh Castle  for  a  while,  under  the  protec- 
tion of  a  strong  guard/  People  considered  this 
guard  as  intended  to  prevent  Mary's  escape, 
and  many  thought  that  she  was  detained,  after 
all,  against  her  will,  and  that  her  admissions 
that  she  was  free  were  only  made  at  the  insti- 
gation of  Bothwell,  and  from  fear  of  his  terri- 
ble power.  The  other  nobles  and  the  people  of 
Scotland  began  to  grow  more  and  more  uneasy. 
The  fear  of  Bothwell  began  to  be  changed  into 
hatred,  and  the  more  powerful  nobles  commenced 
forming  plans  for  combining  together,  and  res- 
cuing, as  they  said,  Mary  out  of  his  power. 

Bothwell  made  no  attempts  to  conciliate 
them.  He  assumed  an  air  and  tone  of  defiance. 
He  increased  his  forces.  He  conceived  the  plan 
of  going  to  Stirling  Castle  to  seize  the  young 
prince,  who  was  residing  there  under  the  charge 
of  persons  to  whom  his  education  had  been  in- 


1567.]  Fall    of    Both  well.  201 

The  opposing  parties.  How  far  Mary  was  responsible. 

trusted.  He  said  to  his  followers  that  James 
should  never  do  any  thing  to  avenge  his  father's 
death,  if  he  could  once  get  him  into  his  hands. 
The  other  nobles  formed  a  league  to  counteract 
these  designs.  They  began  to  assemble  their 
forces,  and  every  thing  threatened  an  outbreak 
of  civil  war. 

The  marriage  took  place  about  the  middle 
of  May,  and  within  a  fortnight  from  that  time 
the  lines  began  to  be  pretty  definitely  drawn 
between  the  two  great  parties,  the  queen  and 
Bothwell  on  one  side,  and  the  insurgent  nobles 
on  the  other,  each  party  claiming  to  be  friends 
of  the  queen.  Whatever  was  done  on  Both- 
well's  side  was,  of  course,  in  the  queen's  name, 
though  it  is  very  doubtful  how  far  she  was  re- 
sponsible for  what  was  done,  or  how  far,  on  the 
other  hand,  she  merely  aided,  under  the  influ- 
ence of  a  species  of  compulsion,  in  carrying  into 
execution  Bothwell's  measures.  We  must  say, 
in  narrating  the  history,  that  the  queen  did  this 
and  that,  and  must  leave  the  reader  to  judge 
whether  it  was  herself,  or  Bothwell  acting 
through  her,  who  was  the  real  agent  in  the 
transactions  described. 

Stirling  Castle,  where  the  young  prince  was 
residing,  is  northwest  of  Edinburgh.     The  con- 


202 

Mary  Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Melrose. 

Ruins  of  the  abbey.                     Mary's  proclamation. 

federate  lords  were  assembling  in  that  vicinity. 
The  border  country  between  England  and  Scot- 
land is  of  course  south.  In  the  midst  of  this 
border  country  is  the  ancient  town  of  Melrose, 
where  there  was,  in  former  days,  a  very  rich 
and  magnificent  abbey,  the  ruins  of  which,  to 
this  day,  form  one  of  the  most  attractive  ob- 
jects of  interest  in  the  whole  island  of  Great 
Britain.  The  region  is  now  the  abode  of  peace, 
and  quietness,  and  plenty,  though  in  Mary's 
day  it  was  the  scene  of  continual  turmoil  and 
war.  It  is  now  the  favorite  retreat  of  poets  and 
philosophers,  who  seek  their  residences  there 
on  account  of  its  stillness  and  peace.  Sir  Wal- 
ter Scott's  Abbotsford  is  a  few  miles  from  Mel- 
rose. 

About  a  fortnight  after  Mary's  marriage, 
she  issued  a  proclamation  ordering  the  military 
chiefs  in  her  kingdom  to  assemble  at  Melrose, 
with  their  followers,  to  accompany  her  on  an 
expedition  through  the  border  country,  to  sup- 
press some  disorders  there.  The  nobles  con- 
sidered this  as  only  a  scheme  of  Bothwell's  to 
draw  them  away  from  the  neighborhood  of  Stir- 
ling, so  that  he  might  go  and  get  possession 
of  the  young  prince.  Rumors  of  this  spread 
around  the  country,  and  the  forces,  instead  of 


1567.]         Fall    of    Bothweli,  203 

The  prince's  lords.  Bothweli  alarmed.  Borthwick  Castle. 

proceeding  to  Melrose,  began  to  assemble  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Stirling,  for  the  protection  of 
the  prince.  The  lords  under  whose  banners 
they  gathered  assumed  the  name  of  the  prince's 
lords,  and  they  called  upon  the  people  to  take 
up  arms  iri  defense  of  young  James's  person  and 
rights.  The  prince's  lords  soon  began  to  con- 
centrate their  forces  about  Edinburgh,  and 
Bothweli  was  alarmed  for  his  safety.  He  had 
reason  to  fear  that  the  governor  of  Edinburgh 
Castle  was  on  their  side,  and  that  he  might  sud- 
denly sally  forth  with  a  body  of  his  forces  down 
the  High  Street  to  Holyrood,  and  take  him  pris- 
oner. He  accordingly  began  to  think  it  neces- 
sary to  retreat. 

Now  Bothweli  had,  among  his  other  posses- 
sions, a  certain  castle  called  Borthwick  Castle, 
a  few  miles  south  of  Edinburgh.  It  was  sit- 
uated on  a  little  swell  of  land  in  a  beautiful  val- 
ley. It  was  surrounded  with  groves  of  trees, 
and  from  the  windows  and  walls  of  the  castle 
there  was  an  extended  view  over  the  beautiful 
and  fertile  fields  of  the  valley.  This  castle  was 
extensive  and  strong.  It  consisted  of  one  great 
square  tower,  surrounded  and  protected  by  walls 
and  bastions,  and  was  approached  by  a  draw- 
bridge.     In  the  sudden  emergency  in  which 


204         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Bothwell's  retreat.  He  is  besieged.  Makes  his  escape. 

Bothwell  found  himself  placed,  this  fortress 
seemed  to  be  the  most  convenient  and  the 
surest  retreat.  On  the  6th  of  June,  he  accord- 
ingly left  Edinburgh  with  as  large  a  force  as 
he  had  at  command,  and  rode  rapidly  across  the 
country  with  the  queen,  and  established  him- 
self at  Borthwick. 

The  prince's  lords,  taking  fresh  courage  from 
the  evidence  of  Bothwell's  weakness  and  fear, 
immediately  marched  from  Stirling,  passed  by 
Edinburgh,  and  almost  immediately  after  Both- 
well  and  the  queen  had  got  safely,  as  they  im- 
agined, established  in  the  place  of  their  retreat, 
they  found  their  oastle  surrounded  and  hemmed 
in  on  all  sides  by  hostile  forces,  which  filled  the 
whole  valley.  The  castle  was  strong,  but  not 
strong  enough  to  withstand  a  siege  from  such 
an  army.  Bothwell  accordingly  determined  to 
retreat  to  his  castle  of  Dunbar,  which,  being 
on  a  rocky  promontory,  jutting  into  the  sea, 
and  more  remote  from  the  heart  of  the  country, 
was  less  accessible,  and  more  safe  than  Borth- 
wick. He  contrived,  though  with  great  diffi- 
culty, to  make  his  escape  with  the  queen, 
through  the  ranks  of  his  enemies.  It  is  said 
that  the  queen  was  disguised  in  male  attire. 
Ai  any  rate,  they  made  their  escape,  they  reach- 


1567.]         Fall    of    Bothwell.  205 

Bothwell  at  Dunbar.  Proclamation.  Approaching  contest. 

ed  Dunbar,  and  Mary,  or  Bothwell  in  her  name, 
immediately  issued  a  proclamation,  calling  upon 
all  her  faithful  subjects  to  assemble  in  arms,  to 
deliver  her  from  her  dangers.  At  the  same  time, 
the  prince's  lords  issued  their  proclamation,  call- 
ing upon  all  faithful  subjects  to  assemble  with 
them,  to  aid  them  in  delivering  the  queen  from 
the  tyrant  who  held  her  captive. 

The  faithful  subjects  were  at  a  loss  which 
proclamation  to  obey.  By  far  the  greater  num- 
ber joined  the  insurgents.  Some  thousands, 
however,  went  to  Dunbar.  With  this  force  the 
queen  and  Bothwell  sallied  forth,  about  the 
middle  of  June,  to  meet  the  prince's  lords,  or 
the  insurgents,  as  they  called  them,  to  settle 
the  question  at  issue  by  the  kind  of  ballot  with 
which  such  questions  were  generally  settled  in 
those  days. 

Mary  had  a  proclamation  read  at  the  head  of 
her  army,  now  that  she  supposed  she  was  on 
the  eve  of  battle,  in  which  she  explained  the 
causes  of  the  quarrel.  The  proclamation  stated 
that  the  marriage  was  Mary's  free  act,  and  that, 
although  it  was  in  some  respects  an  extraordi- 
nary one,  still  the  circumstances  were  such  that 
she  could  not  do  otherwise  than  she  had  done. 
For  ten  days  she  had  been  in  Bothwell's  pow- 


206         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Mary's  appeal.  Approach  of  the  prince's  lords.  Carberry  Hill. 

er  in  his  castle  at  Dunbar,  and  not  an  arm  had 
been  raised  for  her  deliverance.  Her  subjects 
ought  to  have  interposed  then,  if  they  were  in- 
tending really  to  rescue  her  from  Bothwell's 
power.  They  had  done  nothing  then,  but  now, 
when  she  had  been  compelled,  by  the  cruel  cir- 
cumstances of  her  condition,  to  marry  Both- 
well — when  the  act  was  done,  and  could  no  lon- 
ger be  recalled,  they  had  taken  up  arms  against 
her,  and  compelled  her  to  take  the  field  in  her 
own  defense. 

The  army  of  the  prince's  lords,  with  Mary's 
most  determined  enemies  at  their  head,  ad- 
vanced to  meet  the  queen's  forces.  The  queen 
finally  took  her  post  on  an  elevated  piece  of 
ground  called  Carberry  Hill.  Carberry  is  an 
old  Scotch  name  for  gooseberry.  Carberry  Hill 
is  a  few  miles  to  the  eastward  of  Edinburgh, 
near  Dalkeith.  Here  the  two  armies  were 
drawn  up,  opposite  to  each  other,  in  hostile  ar- 
ray. 

Le  Croc,  the  aged  and  venerable  French  em- 
bassador, made  a  great  effort  to  effect  an  ac- 
commodation and  prevent  a  battle.  He  first 
went  to  the  queen  and  obtained  authority  from 
her  to  offer  terms  of  peace,  and  then  went  to 
the  camp  of  the  prince's  lords  and  proposed  that 


1567.]         Fall    of    Bothwell.  207 

Efforts  of  Le  Croc  to  effect  an  accommodation.       Bothwell's  challenge. 

they  should  lay  down  their  arms  and  submit  to 
the  queen's  authority,  and  that  she  would  for- 
give and  forget  what  they  had  done.  They  re- 
plied that  they  had  done  no  wrong,  and  asked 
for  no  pardon ;  that  they  were  not  in  arms 
against  the  queen's  authority,  but  in  favor  of 
it.  They  sought  only  to  deliver  her  from  the 
durance  in  which  she  was  held,  and  -to  bring  to 
punishment  the  murderers  of  her  husband,  who- 
ever they  might  be.  Le  Croc  went  back  and 
forth  several  times,  vainly  endeavoring  to  ef- 
fect an  accommodation,  and  finally,  giving  up 
in  despair,  he  returned  to  Edinburgh,  leaving 
the  contending  parties  to  settle  the  contest  in 
their  own  way. 

Bothwell  now  sent  a  herald  to  the  camp  of 
his  enemies,  challenging  any  one  of  them  to 
meet  him,  and  settle  the  question  of  his  guilt 
or  innocence  by  single  combat.  This  proposi- 
tion was  not  quite  so  absurd  in  those  days  as 
it  would  be  now,  for  it  was  not  an  uncommon 
thing,  in  the  Middle  Ages,  to  try  in  this  way 
questions  of  crime.  Many  negotiations  ensued 
on  Bothwell's  proposal.  One  or  two  persons 
expressed  themselves  ready  to  accept  the  chal- 
lenge. Bothwell  objected  to  them  on  account 
of  their  rank  being  inferior  to  his,  but  said  he 


208         Mary    Queen   of    Scots.     [1567. 

Morton.  Mary  sends  for  Grange. 

would  fight  Morton,  if  Morton  would  accept  his 
challenge.  Morton  had  been  his  accomplice  in 
the  murder  of  Darnley,  but  had  afterward  joined 
the  party  of  Bothwell's  foes.  It  would  have 
been  a  singular  spectacle  to  see  one  of  these 
confederates  in  the  commission  of  a  crime  con- 
tending desperately  in  single  combat  to  settle 
the  question  of  the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the 
other. 

The  combat,  however,  did  not  take  place. 
After  many  negotiations  on  the  subject,  the 
plan  was  abandoned,  each  party  charging  the 
other  with  declining  the  contest.  The  queen 
and  Both  well,  in  the  mean  time,  found  such 
evidences  of  strength  on  the  part  of  their  ene- 
mies, and  felt  probably,  in  their  own  hearts,  so 
much  of  that  faintness  and  misgiving  under 
which  human  energy  almost  always  sinks  when 
the  tide  begins  to  turn  against  it,  after  the  com- 
mission of  wrong,  that  they  began  to  feel  dis- 
heartened and  discouraged.  The  queen  sent  to 
the  opposite  camp  with  a  request  that  a  certain 
personage,  the  Laird  of  Grange,  in  whom  all 
parties  had  great  confidence,  should  come  to  her, 
that  she  might  make  one  more  effort  at  recon- 
ciliation. Grange,  after  consulting  with  the 
prince's  lords,  made  a  proposition  to  Mary,  which 


1567.]         Fall   of    Bothwell.  209 

Proposition  of  Grange.  Dismissal  of  Bothwell. 

she  finally  concluded  to  accept.     It  was  as  fol- 
lows: 

They  proposed  that  Mary  should  come  over 
to  their  camp,  not  saying  very  distinctly  wheth- 
er she  was  to  come  as  their  captive  or  as  their 
queen.  The  event  showed  that  it  was  in  the 
former  capacity  that  they  intended  to  receive 
her,  though  they  were  probably  willing  that  she 
should  understand  that  it  was  in  the  latter. 
At  all  events,  the  proposition  itself  did  not  make 
it  very  clear  what  her  position  would  be  ;  and 
the  poor  queen,  distracted  by  the  difficulties 
which  surrounded  her,  and  overwhelmed  with 
agitation  and  fear,  could  not  press  very  strongly 
for  precise  stipulations.  In  respect  to  Both- 
well,  they  compromised  the  question  by  agree- 
ing that,  as  he  was  under  suspicion  in  respect 
to  the  murder  of  Darnley,  he  should  not  accom- 
pany the  queen,  but  should  be  dismissed  upon 
the  field;  that  is,  allowed  to  depart,  without 
molestation,  wherever  he  should  choose  to  go. 
This  plan  was  finally  adopted.  The  queen  bade 
Bothwell  farewell,  and  he  went  away  reluctant- 
ly and  in  great  apparent  displeasure.  He  had, 
in  fact,  with  his  characteristic  ferocity,  attempt- 
ed to  shoot  Grange  pending  the  negotiation. 
He  mounted  his  horse,  and,  with  a  few  attend- 
14 


210         Mary  Queen   of    Scots.     [1567. 

Question  of  Mary's  guilt.  The  supposition  against  her. 

ants,  rode  off  and  sought  a  retreat  once  more 
upon  his  rock  at  Dunbar. 

From  all  the  evidence  which  has  come  down 
to  us,  it  seems  impossible  to  ascertain  whether 
Mary  wanted  to  get  released  from  Bothwell's 
power,  and  was  glad  when  the  release  came, 
or  whether  she  still  loved  him,  and  was  plan- 
ning a  reunion,  so  soon  as  a  reunion  should  be 
possible.  One  party  at  that  time  maintained, 
and  a  large  class  of  writers  and  readers  since 
have  concurred  in  the  opinion,  that  Mary  was  in 
love  with  Bothwell  before  Darnley's  death ;  that 
she  connived  with  him  in  the  plan  for  Darn- 
ley's  murder  ;  that  she  was  a  consenting  party 
to  the  abduction,  and  the  spending  of  the  ten 
days  at  Dunbar  Castle,  in  his  power ;  that  the 
marriage  was  the  end  at  which  she  herself,  as 
well  as  Bothwell,  had  been  all  the  time  aim- 
ing ;  and  then,  when  at  last  she  surrendered  her- 
self to  the  prince's  lords  at  Carberry  Hill,  it  was 
only  yielding  unwillingly  to  the  necessity  of  a 
temporary  separation  from  her  lawless  husband, 
with  a  view  of  reinstating  him  in  favor  and 
power  at  the  earliest  opportunity. 

Another  party,  both  among  her  people  at  the 
time  and  among  the  writers  and  readers  who 
have  since  paid  attention  to  her  story,  think 


1567.]         Fall    of    Bothwell.  211 

The  supposition  in  her  favor.  Uncertainty. 

that  she  never  loved  Bothwell,  and  that,  though 
she  valued  his  services  as  a  bold  and  energetic 
soldier,  she  had  no  collusion  with  him  whatever 
in  respect  to  Darnley's  murder.  They  think 
that,  though  she  must  have  felt  in  some  sense 
relieved  of  a  burden  by  Darnley's  death,  she 
did  not  in  any  degree  aid  in  or  justify  the 
crime,  and  that  she  had  no  reason  for  suppos- 
ing that  Bothwell  had  any  share  in  the  com- 
mission of  it.  They  think,  also,  that  her  con- 
senting to  marry  Bothwell  is  to  be  accounted 
for  by  her  natural  desire  to  seek  shelter,  under 
some  wing  or  other,  from  the  terrible  storms 
which  were  raging  around  her ;  and  being  de- 
serted, as  she  thought,  by  every  body  else,  and 
moved  by  his  passionate  love  and  devotion, 
she  imprudently  gave  herself  to  him ;  that 
she  lamented  the  act  as  soon  as  it  was  done, 
but  that  it  was  then  too  late  to  retrieve  the 
step ;  and  that,  harassed  and  in  despair,  she 
knew  not  what  to  do,  but  that  she  hailed  the 
rising  of  her  nobles  as  affording  the  only  prom- 
ise of  deliverance,  and  came  forth  from  Dunbar 
to  meet  them  with  the  secret  purpose  of  deliv- 
ering herself  into  their  hands. 

The  question  which  of  these  two  suppositions 
is  the  correct  one  has  been  discussed  a  great 


212         Mary   Queen   of   Scots.     [1567. 

The  box  of  love  letters.  Their  genuineness  suspected. 

deal,  without  the  possibility  of  arriving  at  any 
satisfactory  conclusion.  A  parcel  of  letters 
were  produced  by  Mary's  enemies,  some  time 
after  this,  which  they  said  were  Mary's  letters 
to  Bothwell  before  her  husband  Darnley's  death. 
They  say  they  took  the  letters  from  a  man 
named  Dalgleish,  one  of  Both  well's  servants, 
who  was  carrying  them  from  Holyrood  to  Dun- 
bar Castle,  just  after  Mary  and  Bothwell  fled 
to  Borthwick.  They  were  contained  in  a  small 
gilded  box  or  coffer,  with  the  letter  F  upon  it, 
under  a  crown ;  which  mark  naturally  suggests 
to  our  minds  Mary's  first  husband,  Francis,  the 
king  of  France.  Dalgleish  said  that  Bothwell 
sent  him  for  this  box,  charging  him  to  convey 
it  with  all  care  to  Dunbar  Castle.  The  letters 
purport  to  be  from  Mary  to  Bothwell,  and  to 
have  been  written  before  Darnley's  death.  They 
evince  a  strong  affection  for  the  person  to  whom 
they  are  addressed,  and  seem  conclusively  to 
prove  the  unlawful  attachment  between  the 
parties,  provided  that  their  genuineness  is  ac- 
knowledged. But  this  genuineness  is  denied. 
Mary's  friends  maintain  that  they  are  forge- 
ries, prepared  by  her  enemies  to  justify  their 
own  wrong.  Many  volumes  have  been  written 
on  the  question  of  the  genuineness  of  these  love 


1567.]        Fall   op   Bothwell.  213 

Disposal  of  Mary.  Return  to  Edinburgh. 

letters,  as  they  are  called,  and  there  is  perhaps 
now  no  probability  that  the  question  will  ever 
be  settled. 

Whatever  doubt  there  may  be  about  these 
things,  there  is  none  about  the  events  which 
followed.  After  Mary  had  surrendered  herself 
to  her  nobles  they  took  her  to  the  camp,  she 
herself  riding  on  horseback,  and  Grange  walk- 
ing by  her  side.  As  she  advanced  to  meet 
the  nobles  who  had  combined  against  her,  she 
said  to  them  that  she  had  concluded  to  come 
over  to  them,  not  from  fear,  or  from  doubt  what 
the  issue  would  have  been  if  she  had  fought  the 
battle,  but  only  because  she  wanted  to  spare 
the  effusion  of  Christian  blood,  especially  the 
blood  of  her  own  subjects.  She  had  therefore 
decided  to  submit  herself  to  their  counsels, 
trusting  that  they  would  treat  her  as  their 
rightful  queen.  The  nobles  made  little  reply 
to  this  address,  but  prepared  to  return  to  Edin- 
burgh with  their  prize. 

The  people  of  Edinburgh,  who  had  heard 
what  turn  the  affair  had  taken,  flocked  out 
upon  the  roads  to  see  the  queen  return.  They 
lined  the  waysides  to  gaze  upon  the  great  cav- 
alcade as  it  passed.  The  nobles  who  conducted 
Mary  thus  back  toward  her  capital  had  a  ban- 


214         Mary    Queen    of   Scots.     [1567. 

The  banner.  Rudeness  of  the  populace 

ner  prepared,  or  allowed  one  to  be  prepared, 
on  which  was  a  painting  representing  the  dead 
body  of  Darnley,  and  the  yonng  prince  James 
kneeling  near  him,  and  calling  on  God  to  avenge 
his  cause.  Mary  came  on,  in  the  procession, 
after  this  symbol.  They  might  perhaps  say 
that  it  was  not  intended  to  wound  her  feelings, 
and  was  not  of  a  nature  to  do  it,  unless  she  con- 
sidered herself  as  taking  sides  with  the  mur- 
derers of  her  husband.  She,  however,  knew 
very  well  that  she  was  so  regarded  by  great 
numbers  of  the  populace  assembled,  and  that 
the  effect  of  such  an  effigy  carried  before  her 
was  to  hold  her  up  to  public  obloquy.  The 
populace  did,  in  fact,  taunt  and  reproach  her  as 
she  proceeded,  and  she  rode  into  Edinburgh, 
evincing  all  the  way  extreme  mental  suffering 
by  her  agitation  and  her  tears. 

She  expected  that  they  were  at  least  to  take 
her  to  Holyrood;  but  no,  they  turned  at  the 
gate  to  enter  the  city.  Mary  protested  earn- 
estly against  this,  and  called,  half  frantic,  on 
all  who  heard  her  to  come  to  her  rescue.  But 
no  one  interfered.  They  took  her  to  the  pro- 
vost's house,  and  lodged  her  there  for  the  night, 
and  the  crowd  which  had  assembled  to  observe 
these  proceedings  gradually  dispersed.     There 


1567.]         Fall    of    Bothwell.  215 

Bothwell's  retreat.  He  is  pursued. 

seemed,  however,  in  a  day  or  two,  to  be  some 
symptoms  of  a  reaction  in  favor  of  the  fallen 
queen ;  and,  to  guard  against  the  possibility  of 
a  rescue,  the  lords  took  Mary  to  Holyrood 
again,  and  began  immediately  to  make  ar- 
rangements for  some  more  safe  place  of  con- 
finement still. 

In  the  mean  time,  Bothwell  went  from  Car- 
berry  Hill  to  his  castle  at  Dunbar,  revolving 
moodily  in  his  mind  his  altered  fortunes.  After 
some  time  he  found  himself  not  safe  in  this 
place  of  refuge,  and  so  he  retreated  to  the 
north,  to  some  estates  he  had  there,  in  the  re- 
mote Highlands.  A  detachment  of  forces  were 
sent  in  pursuit  of  him.  Now  there  are,  north 
of  Scotland,  some  groups  of  dismal  islands,  the 
summits  of  submerged  mountains  and  rocks, 
rising  in  dark  and  sublime,  but  gloomy  gran- 
deur, from  the  midst  of  cold  and  tempestuous 
seas.  Bothwell,  finding  himself  pursued,  un- 
dertook to  escape  by  ship  to  these  islands. 
His  pursuers,  headed  by  Grange,  who  had  ne- 
gotiated at  Carberry  for  the  surrender  of  the 
queen,  embarked  in  other  vessels,  and  pressed 
on  after  him.  At  one  time  they  almost  over- 
took him,  and  would  have  captured  him  and 
all  his  company  were  it  not  that  they  got  en- 


216         Mary    Queen    of   Scots.     [1567. 

Bothwell's  narrow  escape.  He  turns  pirate. 

tangled  among  some  shoals.  Grange's  sail- 
ors said  they  mnst  not  proceed.  Grange, 
eager  to  seize  his  prey,  insisted  on  their  mak- 
ing sail  and  pressing  forward.  The  conse- 
quence was,  they  ran  the  vessels  aground,  and 
Bothwell  escaped  in  a  small  boat.  As  it  was, 
however,  they  seized  some  of  his  accomplices, 
and  brought  them  back  to  Edinburgh.  These 
men  were  afterward  tried,  and  some  of  them 
were  executed ;  and  it  was  at  their  trial,  and 
through  the  confessions  they  made,  that  the 
facts  were  brought  to  light  which  have  been 
related  in  this  narrative. 

Bothwell,  now  a  fugitive  and  an  exile,  but 
still  retaining  his  desperate  and  lawless  char- 
acter, became  a  pirate,  and  attempted  to  live 
by  robbing  the  commerce  of  the  German  Ocean. 
Rumor  is  the  only  historian,  in  ordinary  cases, 
to  record  the  events  in  the  life  of  a  pirate ;  and 
she,  in  this  case,  sent  word,  from  time  to  time, 
to  Scotland,  of  the  robberies  and  murders  that 
the  desperado  committed ;  of  an  expedition  fit- 
ted out  against  him  by  the  King  of  Denmark ; 
of  his  being  taken  and  carried  into  a  Danish 
port ;  of  his  being  held  in  imprisonment  for  a 
long  period  there,  in  a  gloomy  dungeon ;  of  his 
restless  spirit  chafing  itself  in  useless  struggles 


1567.]         Fall    of    Both  well.  217 

Bothwell  in  prison.  His  miserable  end. 

against  his  fate,  and  sinking  gradually,  at  last 
under  the  burdens  of  remorse  for  past  crimes, 
and  despair  of  any  earthly  deliverance  ;  of  his 
insanity,  and,  finally,  of  his  miserable  end. 


218         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Grange  of  Kircaldy.  Mary's  letter. 


Chapter  X. 

Loch  Leven  Castle. 

f"^  RANGE,  or,  as  he  is  sometimes  called, 
V*  Kircaldy,  his  title  in  full  being  Grange  of 
Kircaldy,  was  a  man  of  integrity  and  honor ; 
and  he,  having  been  the  negotiator  through 
whose  intervention  Mary  gave  herself  up,  felt 
himself  bound  to  see  that  the  stipulations  on 
the  part  of  the  nobles  should  be  honorably  ful- 
filled. He  did  all  in  his  power  to  protect  Mary 
from  insult  on  the  journey,  and  he  struck  with 
his  sword  and  drove  away  some  of  the  populace 
who  were  addressing  her  with  taunts  and  re- 
proaches. When  he  found  that  the  nobles  were 
confining  her,  and  treating  her  so  much  more 
like  a  captive  than  like  a  queen,  he  remonstra- 
ted with  them.  They  silenced  him  by  show- 
ing him  a  letter,  which  they  said  they  had  in- 
tercepted on  its  way  from  Mary  to  Bothwell. 
It  was  written,  they  said,  on  the  night  of  Ma- 
ry's arrival  at  Edinburgh.  It  assured  Both- 
well  that  she  retained  an  unaltered  affection 


1567.]       Loch   Leven   Castle.  219 

Removal  of  Mary.  A  ride  at  night. 

for  him ;  that  her  consenting  to  be  separated 
from  him  at  Carberry  Hill  was  a  matter  of 
mere  necessity,  and  that  she  should  rejoin  him 
as  soon  as  it  was  in  her  power  to  do  so.  This 
letter  showed,  they  said,  that,  after  all,  Mary 
was  not,  as  they  had  supposed,  Bothwell's  cap- 
tive and  victim,  but  that  she  was  his  accom- 
plice and  friend ;  and  that,  now  that  they  had 
discovered  their  mistake,  they  must  treat  Mary, 
as  well  as  Bothwell,  as  an  enemy,  and  take  ef- 
fectual means  to  protect  themselves  from  the 
one  as  well  as  from  the  other.  Mary's  friends 
maintain  that  this  letter  was  a  forgery. 

They  accordingly  took  Mary,  as  has  been 
already  stated,  from  the  provost's  house  in  Ed- 
inburgh down  to  Holyrood  House,  which  was 
just  without  the  city.  This,  however,  was  only 
a  temporary  change.  That  night  they  came 
into  the  palace,  and  directed  Mary  to  rise  and 
put  on  a  traveling  dress  which  they  brought 
her.  They  did  not  tell  her  where  she  was  to 
go,  but  simply  ordered  her  to  follow  them.  It 
was  midnight.  They  took  her  forth  from  the 
palace,  mounted  her  upon  a  horse,  and,  with 
Ruthven  and  Lindsay,  two  of  the  murderers  of 
Rizzio,  for  an  escort,  they  rode  away.  They 
traveled  all  night,  crossed  the  River  Forth,  and 


220         Mary  Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Loch  Leven  Castle.  The  square  tower. 

arrived  in  the  morning  at  the  Castle  of  Loch 
Leven. 

The  Castle  of  Loch  Leven  is  on  a  small  isl- 
and in  the  middle  of  the  loch.  It  is  nearly  north 
from  Edinburgh.  The  castle  buildings  covered 
at  that  time  about  one  half  of  the  island,  the 
water  coming  up  to  the  walls  on  three  sides. 
On  the  other  side  was  a  little  land,  which  was 
cultivated  as  a  garden.  The  buildings  inclosed 
a  considerable  area.  There  was  a  great  square 
tower,  marked  on  the  plan  below,  which  was 
the  residence  of  the  family.  It  consisted  of  four 
or  five  rooms,  one  over  the  other.  The  cellar, 
or,  rather,  what  would  be  the  cellar  in  other 
cases,  was  a  dungeon  for  such  prisoners  as  were 
to  be  kept  in  close  confinement.  The  only  en- 
trance to  this  building  was  through  a  window 
in  the  second  story,  by  means  of  a  ladder  which 
was  raised  and  let  down  by  a  chain.  This  was 
over  the  point  marked  e  on  the  plan.  The  chain 
was  worked  at  a  window  in  the  story  above. 
There  were  various  other  apartments  and  struc- 
tures about  the  square,  and  among  them  there 
was  a  small  octagonal  tower  in  the  corner  at  m, 
which  consisted  within  of  one  room  over  anoth- 
er for  three  stories,  and  a  flat  roof  with  battle- 
ments above.     In  the  second  storv  there  was  a 


1567.]        Loch   Leven    Castle 


221 


Plan  of  Loch  Leven  Castle. 


Lady  Douglas. 


window,  iv,  looking  upon  the  water.  This  was 
the  only  window  having  an  external  aspect  in 
the  whole  fortress,  all  the  other  openings  in  the 
exterior  walls  being  mere  loop-holes  and  em- 
brasures. 

The  following  is  a  general  plan  of  Loch  Leven 
Castle:* 


This  castle  was  in  possession  of  a  certain 
personage  styled  the  Lady  Douglas.  She  wa# 
the  mother  of  the  Lord  James,  afterward  the 
Earl  of  Murray,  who  has  figured  so  conspicu- 

*  Compare  this  plan  with  the  view  of  the  castle,  page  236. 


222         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Lady  Douglas  Mary's  enemy.  Parties  for  and  against  Mary. 

ously  in  this  history  as  Mary's  half  brother,  and. 
at  first  her  friend  and  counselor,  though  after- 
ward her  foe.  Lady  Douglas  was  commonly 
called  the  Lady  of  Loch  Leven.  She  main- 
tained that  she  had  been  lawfully  married  to 
James  V.,  Mary's  father,  and  that  consequent- 
ly her  son,  and  not  Mary,  was  the  lawful  heir 
to  the  crown.  Of  course  she  was  Mary's  nat- 
ural enemy.  They  selected  her  castle  as  the 
place  of  Mary's  confinement  partly  on  this  ac- 
count, and  partly  on  account  of  its  inaccessible 
position  in  the  midst  of  the  waters  of  the  lake. 
They  delivered  the  captive  queen,  accordingly, 
to  the  Lady  Douglas  and  her  husband,  charg- 
ing them  to  keep  her  safely.  The  Lady  Doug- 
las received  her,  and  locked  her  up  in  the  oc- 
tagonal tower  with  the  window  looking  out 
upon  the  water. 

In  the  mean  time,  all  Scotland  took  sides  for 
or  against  the  queen.  The  strongest  party 
were  against  her ;  and  the  Church  was  against 
her,  on  account  of  their  hostility  to  the  Catho- 
lic religion.  A  sort  of  provisional  government 
was  instituted,  which  assumed  the  manage- 
ment of  public  affairs.  Mary  had,  however, 
some  friends,  and  they  soon  began  to  assem- 
ble in  order  to  see  what  could  be  done  for  her 


1567.]        Loch   Leven    Castle.  223 

The  Hamilton  lords.  Plans  of  Mary's  enemies. 

cause.  Their  rendezvous  was  at  the  palace  of 
Hamilton.  This  palace  was  situated  on  a 
plain  in  the  midst  of  a  beautiful  park,  near  the 
River  Clyde,  a  few  miles  from  Glasgow.  The 
Duke  of  Hamilton  was  prominent  among  the 
supporters  of  the  queen,  and  made  his  house 
their  head-quarters.  They  were  often  called, 
from  this  circumstance,  the  Hamilton  lords. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  party  opposed  to 
Mary  made  the  castle  of  Stirling  their  head- 
quarters, because  the  young  prince  was  there, 
in  whose  name  they  were  proposing  soon  to  as- 
sume the  government.  Their  plan  was  to  de- 
pose Mary,  or  induce  her  to  abdicate  the  throne, 
and  then  to  make  Murray  regent,  to  govern 
the  country  in  the  name  of  the  prince  until 
the  prince  should  become  of  age.  During  all 
this  time  Murray  had  been  absent  in  France, 
but  they  now  sent  urgent  messages  to  him  to 
return.  He  obeyed  the  summons,  and  turned 
his  face  toward  Scotland. 

In  the  mean  time,  Mary  continued  in  con- 
finement in  her  little  tower.  She  was  not 
treated  like  a  common  prisoner,  but  had,  in 
some  degree,  the  attentions  due  to  her  rank. 
There  were  five  or  six  female,  and  about  as 
many  male  attendants ;  though,  if  the  rooms 


224        Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Mary's  tower.  Ruins.  The  scale  turns  against  Mary. 

which  are  exhibited  to  visitors  at  the  present 
day  as  the  apartments  which  she  occupied  are 
really  such,  her  quarters  were  very  contracted. 
They  consist  of  small  apartments  of  an  octag- 
onal form,  one  over  the  other,  with  tortuous 
and  narrow  stair-cases  in  the  solid  wall  to  as- 
cend from  one  to  the  other.  The  roof  and  the 
floors  of  the  tower  are  now  gone,  but  the  stair- 
ways, the  capacious  fire-places,  the  loop-holes, 
and  the  one  window  remain,  enabling  the  vis- 
itor to  reconstruct  the  dwelling  in  imagination, 
and  even  to  fancy  Mary  herself  there  again, 
seated  on  the  stone  seat  by  the  window,  look- 
ing over  the  water  at  the  distant  hills,  and  sigh- 
ing to  be  free. 

The  Hamilton  lords  were  not  strong  enough 
to  attempt  her  rescue.  The  weight  of  influ- 
ence and  power  throughout  the  country  went 
gradually  and  irresistibly  into  the  other  scale. 
There  were  great  debates  among  the  authori- 
ties of  government  as  to  what  should  be  done. 
The  Hamilton  lords  made  proposals  in  behalf 
of  Mary  which  the  government  could  not  ac- 
cede to.  Other  proposals  were  made  by  dif- 
ferent parties  in  the  councils  of  the  insurgent 
nobles,  some  more  and  some  less  hard  for  the 
captive  queen.    The  conclusion,  however,  final- 


1567.]       Loch   Leven    Castle.  225 

Proposals  made  to  Mary.  The  commissioners. 

ly  was,  to  urge  Mary  to  resign  her  crown  in 
favor  of  her  son,  and  to  appoint  Murray,  when 
he  should  return,  to  act  as  regent  till  the  prince 
should  be  of  age. 

They  accordingly  sent  commissioners  to 
Loch  Leven  to  propose  these  measures  to  the 
queen.  There  were  three  instruments  of  ab- 
dication prepared  for  her  to  sign.  By  one  she 
resigned  the  crown  in  favor  of  her  son.  By 
the  second  she  appointed  Murray  to  be  regent 
as  soon  as  he  should  return  from  France.  By 
the  third  she  appointed  commissioners  to  gov- 
ern the  country  until  Murray  should  return. 
They  knew  that  Mary  would  be  extremely  un- 
willing to  sign  these  papers,  and  yet  that  they 
must  contrive,  in  some  way,  to  obtain  her  sig- 
nature without  any  open  violence ;  for  the  sig- 
nature, to  be  of  legal  force,  must  be,  in  some 
sense,  her  voluntary  act. 

The  two  commissioners  whom  they  sent  to 
her  were  Melville  and  Lindsay.  Melville  was 
a  thoughtful  and  a  reasonable  man,  who  had 
long  been  in  Mary's  service,  and  who  possessed 
a  great  share  of  her  confidence  and  good  will. 
Lindsay  was,  on  the  other  hand,  of  an  over- 
bearing and  violent  temper,  of  very  rude  speech 
and  demeanor,  and  was  known  to  be  unfriend - 
15 


226         Mary    Queen   of    Scots.     [1567. 

Melville  unsuccessful.  Lindsay  called  in. 

ly  to  the  queen.  They  hoped  that  Mary  would 
be  induced  to  sign  the  papers  by  Melville's  gen- 
tle persuasions;  if  not,  Lindsay  was  to  see 
what  he  could  do  by  denunciations  and  threats. 

When  the  two  commissioners  arrived  at  the 
castle,  Melville  alone  went  first  into  the  pres- 
ence of  the  queen.  He  opened  the  subject  to 
her  in  a  gentle  and  respectful  manner.  He 
laid  before  her  the  distracted  state  of  Scotland, 
the  uncertain  and  vague  suspicions  floating  in 
the  public  mind  on  the  subject  of  Damley's 
murder,  and  the  irretrievable  shade  which  had 
been  thrown  over  her  position  by  the  unhappy 
marriage  with  Bothwell ;  and  he  urged  her  to 
consent  to  the  proposed  measures,  as  the  only 
way  now  left  to  restore  peace  to  the  land. 
Mary  heard  him  patiently,  but  replied  that  she 
could  not  consent  to  his  proposal.  By  doing  so 
she  should  not  only  sacrifice  her  own  rights, 
and  degrade  herself  from  the  position  she  was 
entitled  to  occupy,  but  she  should,  in  some 
sense,  acknowledge  herself  guilty  of  the  charg- 
es brought  against  her,  and  justify  her  enemies 

Melville,  finding  that  his  efforts  were  vain, 
called  Lindsay  in.  He  entered  with  a  fierce 
and  determined  air.  Mary  was  reminded  of  the 
terrible  night  when  he  and  Ruthven  broke  into 


1567.]       Loch    Leven    Castle.  227 

Lindsay's  brutality.  Abdication.  Coronation  of  James. 

her  little  supper-room  at  Holyrood  in  quest  of 
Rizzio.  She  was  agitated  and  alarmed.  Lind- 
say assailed  her  with  denunciations  and  threats 
of  the  most  violent  character.  There  ensued 
a  scene  of  the  most  rough  and  ferocious  passion 
on  the  one  side,  and  of  anguish,  terror,  and  de- 
spair on  the  other,  which  is  said  to  have  made 
this  day  the  most  wretched  of  all  the  wretched 
days  of  Mary's  life.  Sometimes  she  sat  pale, 
motionless,  and  almost  stupefied.  At  others, 
she  was  overwhelmed  with  sorrow  and  tears. 
She  finally  yielded.  She  took  the  pen  and 
signed  the  papers.  Lindsay  and  Melville  took 
them,  left  the  castle  gate,  entered  their  boat, 
and  were  rowed  away  to  the  shore. 

This  was  on  the  25th  of  July,  1567,  and 
four  days  afterward  the  young  prince  was 
crowned  at  Stirling.  His  title  was  James  VI. 
Lindsay  made  oath  at  the  coronation  that  he 
was  a  witness  of  Mary's  abdication  of  the 
crown  in  favor  of  her  son,  and  that  it  was  her 
own  free  and  voluntary  act.  James  was  about 
one  year  old.  The  coronation  took  place  in 
the  chapel  where  Mary  had  been  crowned  in 
her  infancy,  about  twenty-five  years  before. 
Mary  herself,  though  unconscious  of  her  own 
coronation,  mourned  bitterly  over  that  of  her 


228        Mary   Queen    of    Scots.      [1567. 

Ceremonies.  Return  of  Murray 

son.  Unhappy  mother  !  how  little  was  she 
aware,  when  her  heart  was  rilled  with  joy  and 
gladness  at  his  birth,  that  in  one  short  year  his 
mere  existence  would  furnish  to  her  enemies 
the  means  of  consummating  and  sealing  her 
ruin. 

On  returning  from  the  chapel  to  the  state 
apartments  of  the  castle,  after  the  coronation, 
the  noblemen  by  whom  the  infant  had  been 
crowned  walked  in  solemn  procession,  bearing 
the  badges  and  insignia  of  the  newly-invested 
royalty.  One  carried  the  crown.  Morton,  who 
was  to  exercise  the  government  until  Murray 
should  return,  followed  with  the  scepter,  and  a 
third  bore  the  infant  king,  who  gazed  about  un- 
consciously upon  the  scene,  regardless  alike  of 
his  mother's  lonely  wretchedness  and  of  his  own 
new  scepter  and  crown. 

In  the  mean  time,  Murray  was  drawing  near 
toward  the  confines  of  Scotland.  He  was  some- 
what uncertain  how  to  act.  Having  been  ab- 
sent for  some  time  in  France  and  on  the  Con- 
tinent, he  was  not  certain  how  far  the  people 
of  Scotland  were  really  and  cordially  in  favor 
of  the  revolution  which  had  been  effected.  Ma- 
ry's friends  might  claim  that  her  acts  of  abdi- 
cation, having  been  obtained  while  she  was  nn- 


1567.]       Loch    Leven    Castle.  229 

Murray's  interview  with  Mary.  Affecting  scene. 

der  duress,  were  null  and  void,  and  if  they  were 
strong  enough  they  might  attempt  to  reinstate 
her  upon  the  throne.  In  this  case,  it  would  be 
better  for  him  not  to  have  acted  with  the  insur- 
gent government  at  all.  To  gain  information 
on  these  points,  Murray  sent  to  Melville  to  come 
and  meet  him  on  the  border.  Melville  came. 
The  result  of  their  conferences  was,  that  Mur- 
ray resolved  to  visit  Mary  in  her  tower  before 
he  adopted  any  decisive  course. 

Murray  accordingly  journeyed  northward  to 
Loch  Leven,  and,  embarking  in  the  boat  which 
plied  between  the  castle  and  the  shore,  he  cross- 
ed the  sheet  of  water,  and  was  admitted  into 
the  fortress.  He  had  a  long  interview  with 
Mary  alone.  At  the  sight  of  her  long-absent 
brother,  who  had  been  her  friend  and  guide  in 
her  early  days  of  prosperity  and  happiness,  and 
who  had  accompanied  her  through  so  many 
changing  scenes,  and  who  now  returned,  after 
his  long  separation  from  her,  to  find  her  a  lone- 
ly and  wretched  captive,  involved  in  irretriev- 
able ruin,  if  not  in  acknowledged  guilt,  she 
was  entirely  overcome  by  her  emotions.  She 
burst  into  tears  and  could  not  speak.  What 
further  passed  at  this  interview  was  never  pre- 
cisely  known.      They   parted    tolerably  good 


230         Mary  Queen    of    Scots.     [1567. 

Murray  assumes  the  government.  His  warnings. 

friends,  however,  and  yet  Murray  immediately 
assumed  the  government,  by  which  it  is  sup- 
posed that  he  succeeded  in  persuading  Mary 
that  such  a  step  was  now  best  for  her  sake  as 
well  as  for  that  of  all  others  concerned. 

Murray,  however,  did  not  fail  to  warn  her, 
as  he  himself  states,  in  a  very  serious  manner, 
against  any  attempt  to  change  her  situation. 
"Madam,"  said  he,  "  I  will  plainly  declare  to 
you  what  the  sources  of  danger  are  from  which 
I  think  you  have  most  to  apprehend.  First,  any 
attempt,  of  whatever  kind,  that  you  may  make 
to  create  disturbance  in  the  country  through 
friends  that  may  still  adhere  to  your  cause,  and 
to  interfere  with  the  government  of  your  son  ; 
secondly,  devising  or  attempting  any  plan  of 
escape  from  this  island;  thirdly,  taking  any 
measures  for  inducing  the  Queen  of  England 
or  the  French  king  to  come  to  your  aid  ;  and, 
lastly,  persisting  in  your  attachment  to  Earl 
Bothwell."  He  warned  Mary  solemnly  against 
any  and  all  of  these,  and  then  took  his  leave. 
He  was  soon  after  proclaimed  regent.  A  Par- 
liament was  assembled  to  sanction  all  these 
proceedings,  and  the  new  government  was  es- 
tablished, apparently  upon  a  firm  foundation. 

Mary  remained,  during  the  winter,  in  captiv- 


1568.]        Loch    Leven    Castle.  231 

The  young  Douglases.  Their  interest  in  Mary. 

ity,  earnestly  desiring,  however,  notwithstand- 
ing Murray's  warning,  to  find  some  way  of  es- 
cape. She  knew  that  there  must  be  many  who 
had  remained  friends  to  her  cause.  She  thought 
that  if  she  could  once  make  her  escape  from  her 
prison,  these  friends  would  rally  around  her, 
and  that  she  could  thus,  perhaps,  regain  her 
throne  again.  But  strictly  watched  as  she  was, 
and  in  a  prison  which  was  surrounded  by  the 
waters  of  a  lake,  all  hope  of  escape  seemed  to 
be  taken  away. 

Now  there  were,  in  the  family  of  the  Lord 
Douglas  at  the  castle,  two  young  men,  George 
and  William  Douglas.  The  oldest,  George, 
was  about  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  the 
youngest  was  seventeen.  George  was  the  son 
of  Lord  and  Lady  Douglas  who  kept  the  cas- 
tle. William  was  an  orphan  boy,  a  relative, 
who,  having  no  home,  had  been  received  into 
the  family.  These  young  men  soon  began  to 
feel  a  strong  interest  in  the  beautiful  captive 
confined  in  their  father's  castle,  and,  before 
many  months,  this  interest  became  so  strong 
that  they  began  to  feel  willing  to  incur  the 
dangers  and  responsibilities  of  aiding  her  in  ef- 
fecting her  escape.  They  had  secret  confer- 
ences with  Mary  on  the  subject.     They  went 


232         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1568. 

Plan  for  Mary's  escape.  The  laundress. 

to  the  shore  on  various  pretexts,  and  contrived 
to  make  their  plans  known  to  Mary's  friends, 
that  they  might  be  ready  to  receive  her  in  case 
they  should  succeed. 

The  plan  at  length  was  ripe  for  execution. 
It  was  arranged  thus.  The  castle  not  being 
large,  there  was  not  space  within  its  walls  for 
all  the  accommodations  required  for  its  in- 
mates ;  much  was  done  on  the  shore,  where 
there  was  quite  a  little  village  of  attendants 
and  dependents  pertaining  to  the  castle.  This 
little  village  has  since  grown  into  a  flourishing 
manufacturing  town,  where  a  great  variety  of 
plaids,  and  tartans,  and  other  Scotch  fabrics 
are  made.  Its  name  is  Kinross.  Communica- 
tion with  this  part  of  the  shore  was  then,  as 
now,  kept  up  by  boats,  which  generally  then 
belonged  to  the  castle,  though  now  to  the  town. 

On  the  day  when  Mary  was  to  attempt  her 
escape,  a  servant  woman  was  brought  by  one 
of  the  castle  boats  from  the  shore  with  a  bun- 
dle of  clothes  for  Mary.  Mary,  whose  health 
and  strength  had  been  impaired  by  her  confine- 
ment and  sufferings,  was  often  in  her  bed. 
She  was  so  at  this  time,  though  perhaps  she 
was  feigning  now  more  feebleness  than  she 
really  felt.     The  servant  woman  came  into  her 


1568.]        Loch    Leven    Castle.  23-3 

The  disguise.  Escape.  Discovery. 

apartment  and  undressed  herself,  while  Mary 
rose,  took  the  dress  which  she  laid  aside,  and 
put  it  on  as  a  disguise.  The  woman  took 
Mary's  place  in  bed.  Mary  covered  her  face 
with  a  muffler,  and,  taking  another  bundle  in 
her  hand  to  assist  in  her  disguise,  she  passed 
across  the  court,  issued  from  the  castle  gate, 
went  to  the  landing  stairs,  and  stepped  into  the 
boat  for  the  men  to  row  her  to  the  shore. 

The  oarsmen,  who  belonged  to  the  castle, 
supposing  that  all  was  right,  pushed  off,  and 
began  to  row  toward  the  land.  As  they  were 
crossing  the  water,  however,  they  observed  that 
their  passenger  was  very  particular  to  keep  her 
face  covered,  and  attempted  to  pull  away  the 
muffler,  saying,  "Let  us  see  what  kind  of  a 
looking  damsel  this  is."  Mary,  in  alarm,  put 
up  her  hands  to  her  face  to  hold  the  muffler 
there.  The  smooth,  white,  and  delicate  fingers 
revealed  to  the  men  at  once  that  they  were  car- 
rying away  a  lady  in  disguise.  Mary,  finding 
that  concealment  was  no  longer  possible,  dropped 
her  muffler,  looked  upon  the  men  with  compo- 
sure and  dignity,  told  them  that  she  was  their 
queen,  that  they  were  bound  by  their  allegiance 
to  her  to  obey  her  commands,  and  she  command- 
ed them  to  £0  on  and  row  her  to  the  shore. 


234         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [156$. 

Mary's  return.  Banishment  of  George  Douglas. 

The  men  decided,  however,  that  their  alle- 
giance was  due  to  the  lord  of  the  castle  rather 
than  to  the  helpless  captive  trying  to  escape 
from  it.  They  told  her  that  they  must  return. 
Mary  was  not  only  disappointed  at  the  failure 
of  her  plans,  but  she  was  now  anxious  lest  her 
friends,  the  young  Douglases,  should  be  impli- 
cated in  the  attempt,  and  should  suffer  in  con- 
sequence of  it.  The  men,  however,  solemnly 
promised  her,  that  if  she  would  quietly  return, 
they  would  not  make  the  circumstances  known. 
The  secret,  however,  was  too  great  a  secret  to 
be  kept.  In  a  few  days  it  all  came  to  light. 
Lord  and  Lady  Douglas  were  very  angry  with 
their  son,  and  banished  him,  together  with  two 
of  Mary's  servants,  from  the  castle.  What- 
ever share  young  William  Douglas  had  in  the 
scheme  was  not  found  out,  and  he  was  suffered 
to  remain.  George  Douglas  went  only  to  Kin- 
ross. He  remained  there  watching  for  another 
opportunity  to  help  Mary  to  her  freedom. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  watch  and  ward  held 
over  Mary  was  more  strict  and  rigorous  than 
ever,  her  keepers  being  resolved  to  double  their 
vigilance,  while  George  and  William,  on  the 
other  hand,  resolved  to  redouble  their  exertions 
to  find  some  means  to  circumvent  it.    William, 


1568.]       Loch    Leven    Castle.  237 

Secret  communications.  New  plan  of  escape. 

who  was  only  a  boy  of  seventeen,  and  who  re- 
mained within  the  castle,  acted  his  part  in  a 
very  sagacious  and  admirable  manner.  He  was 
silent,  and  assumed  a  thoughtless  and  uncon- 
cerned manner  in  his  general  deportment,  which 
put  every  one  off  their  guard  in  respect  to  him. 
George,  who  was  at  Kinross,  held  frequent  com- 
munications with  the  Hamilton  lords,  encour- 
aging them  to  hope  for  Mary's  escape,  and  lead- 
ing them  to  continue  in  combination,  and  to  be 
ready  to  act  at  a  moment's  warning.  They 
communicated  with  each  other,  too,  by  secret 
means,  across  the  lake,  and  with  Mary  in  her 
solitary  tower.  It  is  said  that  George,  wishing 
to  make  Mary  understand  that  their  plans  for 
rescuing  her  were  not  abandoned,  and  not  hav- 
ing the  opportunity  to  do  so  directly,  sent  her  a 
picture  of  the  mouse  liberating  the  lion  from 
his  snares,  hoping  that  she  would  draw  from 
the  picture  the  inference  which  he  intended. 

At  length  the  time  arrived  for  another  at- 
tempt. It  was  about  the  first  of  May.  By 
looking  at  the  engraving  of  Loch  Leven  Castle, 
it  will  be  seen  that  there  was  a  window  in  Ma- 
ry's tower  looking  out  over  the  water.  George 
Douglas's  plan  was  to  bring  a  boat  up  to  this 
window  in  the  night,  and  take  Mary  down  the 


238         Mary   Queen   of   Scots.     [1568. 

The  postern  gate.  Liberation  of  Mary.  Jane  Kennedy. 

wall  into  it.  The  place  of  egress  by  which 
Mary  escaped  is  called  in  some  of  the  ac- 
counts a  postern  gate,  and  yet  tradition  at  the 
castle  says  that  it  was  through  this  window. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  this  window  might 
have  been  intended  to  be  used  sometimes  as  a 
postern  gate,  and  that  the  iron  grating  with 
which  it  was  guarded  was  made  to  open  and 
shut,  the  key  being  kept  with  the  other  keys 
of  the  castle. 

The  time  for  the  attempt  was  fixed  upon  for 
Sunday  night,  on  the  2d  of  May.  George 
Douglas  was  ready  with  the  boat  early  in  the 
evening.  When  it  was  dark,  he  rowed  cau- 
tiously across  the  water,  and  took  his  position 
under  Mary's  window.  William  Douglas  was 
in  the  mean  time  at  supper  in  the  great  square 
tower  with  his  father  and  mother.  The  keys 
were  lying  upon  the  table.  He  contrived  to  get 
them  into  his  possession,  and  then  cautiously 
stole  away.  He  locked  the  tower  as  he  came 
out,  went  across  the  court  to  Mary's  room,  lib- 
erated her  through  the  postern  window,  and  de- 
scended with  her  into  the  boat.  One  of  her 
maids,  whose  name  was  Jane  Kennedy,  was  to 
have  accompanied  her,  but,  in  their  eagerness 
to  make  sure  of  Mary,  they  forgot  or  neglected 


1568.] 

Loch   Leven    Castle.            239 

The  escape. 

Mary's  joy.                            Popular  feeling. 

her,  and  she  had  to  leap  down  after  them,  which 
feat  she  accomplished  without  any  serious  in- 
jury. The  boat  pushed  off  immediately,  and 
the  Douglases  began  to  pull  hard  for  the  shore. 
They  threw  the  keys  of  the  castle  into  the  lake, 
as  if  the  impossibility  of  recovering  them,  in 
that  case,  made  the  imprisonment  of  the  family 
more  secure.  The  whole  party  were,  of  course, 
in  the  highest  state  of  excitement  and  agitation. 
Jane  Kennedy  helped  to  row,  and  it  is  said  that 
even  Mary  applied  her  strength  to  one  of  the 
oars. 

They  landed  safely  on  the  south  side  of  the 
loch,  far  from  Kinross.  Several  of  the  Hamil- 
ton lords  were  ready  there  to  receive  the  fugi- 
tive. They  mounted  her  on  horseback,  and 
galloped  away.  There  was  a  strong  party  to 
escort  her.  They  rode  hard  all  night,  and  the 
next  morning  they  arrived  safely  at  Hamilton. 
"Now,"  said  Mary,  "I  am  once  more  a  queen." 

It  was  true.  She  was  again  a  queen.  Pop- 
ular feeling  ebbs  and  flows  with  prodigious  force, 
and  the  change  from  one  state  to  the  other  de- 
pends, sometimes,  on  very  accidental  causes 
The  news  of  Mary's  escape  spread  rapidly  over 
the  land.  Her  friends  were  encouraged  and 
emboldened.      Sympathies,  long  dormant  and 


240         Mary   Queen    of   Scots.     [1568. 

Mary's  proclamation.  Ruins  of  Loch  Leven  Castle. 

inert,  were  awakened  in  her  favor.  She  issued 
a  proclamation,  declaring  that  her  abdication 
had  been  forced  upon  her,  and,  as  such,  was 
null  and  void.  She  summoned  Murray  to  sur- 
render his  powers  as  regent,  and  to  come  and 
receive  orders  from  her.  She  called  upon  all 
her  faithful  subjects  to  take  up  arms  and  gather 
around  her  standard.  Murray  refused  to  obey, 
but  large  masses  of  the  people  gave  in  their  ad- 
hesion to  their  liberated  queen,  and  flocked  to 
Hamilton  to  enter  into  her  service.  In  a  week 
Mary  found  herself  at  the  head  of  an  army  of 
six  thousand  men. 

The  Castle  of  Loch  Leven  is  now  a  solitary 
ruin.  The  waters  of  the  loch  have  been  low- 
ered by  means  of  an  excavation  of  the  outlet, 
and  a  portion  of  land  has  been  left  bare  around 
the  walls,  which  the  proprietor  has  planted  with 
trees.  Visitors  are  taken  from  Kinross  in  a 
boat  to  view  the  scene.  The  square  tower, 
though  roofless  and  desolate,  still  stands.  The 
window  in  the  second  story,  which  served  as  the 
entrance,  and  the  one  above,  where  the  chain 
was  worked,  with  the  deep  furrows  in  the  sill 
cut  by  its  friction,  are  shown  by  the  guide.  The 
court-yard  is  overgrown  with  weeds,  and  en- 


1 1 "  ppn  piff 


1568.]        Loch    Leven    Castle.  243 

The  octagonal  tower.  Visitors. 

cumbered  with  fallen  stones  and  old  founda- 
tions. The  chapel  is  gone,  though  its  outline 
may  be  still  traced  in  the  ruins  of  its  walls. 
The  octagonal  tower  which  Mary  occupied  re- 
mains, and  the  visitors,  climbing  up  by  the  nar- 
row stone  stairs  in  the  wall,  look  out  at  the  win- 
dow over  the  waters  of  the  loch  and  the  distant 
hills,  and  try  to  recreate  in  imagination  the  scene 
which  the  apartment  presented  when  the  un- 
happy captive  was  there. 


244         Mary    Queen    of   Scots.     [1568. 

Dumbarton  Castle.  The  situation  and  aspect 


H 


Chapter    XL 
The    Long   Captivity. 

AMILTON,  which  had  been  thus  far  the 
queen's  place  of  rendezvous,  was  a  palace 
rather  than  a  castle,  and  therefore  not  a  place 
of  defense.  It  was  situated,  as  has  been  al- 
ready stated,  on  the  River  Clyde,  above  Glas- 
gow; that  is,  toward  the  southeast  of  it,  the 
River  Clyde  flowing  toward  the  northwest.  The 
Castle  of  Dumbarton,  which  has  already  been 
mentioned  as  the  place  from  which  Mary  em- 
barked for  France  in  her  early  childhood,  was 
below  Glasgow,  on  the  northern  shore  of  the 
river.  It  stands  there  still  in  good  repair,  and 
is  well  garrisoned ;  it  crowns  a  rock  which 
rises  abruptly  from  the  midst  of  a  comparatively 
level  country,  smiling  with  villages  and  culti- 
vated fields,  and  frowns  sternly  upon  the  peace- 
ful steamers  and  merchant  ships  which  are  con- 
tinually gliding  along  under  its  guns,  up  and 
down  the  Clyde. 

Queen  Mary  concluded  to  move  forward  to 


1568.]       The    Long    Captivity.  245 

Attempt  to  retreat  to  Dumbarton.  Mary's  forces  defeated. 

Dumbarton,  it  being  a  place  of  greater  safety 
than  Hamilton.  Murray  gathered  his  forces  to 
intercept  her  march.  The  two  armies  met  near 
Glasgow,  as  the  queen  was  moving  westward, 
down  the  river.  There  was  a  piece  of  rising 
ground  between  them,  which  each  party  was 
eager  to  ascend  before  the  other  should  reach 
it.  The  leader  of  the  forces  on  Murray's  side 
ordered  every  horseman  to  take  up  a  foot-sol- 
dier behind  him,  and  ride  with  all  speed  to  the 
top  of  the  hill.  By  this  means  the  great  body 
of  Murray's  troops  were  put  in  possession  of  the 
vantage  ground.  The  queen's  forces  took  post 
on  another  rising  ground,  less  favorable,  at  a 
little  distance.  The  place  was  called  Langside. 
A  cannonading  was  soon  commenced,  and  a  gen- 
eral battle  ensued.  Mary  watched  the  progress 
of  it  with  intense  emotions.  Her  forces  began 
soon  to  give  way,  and  before  many  hours  they 
were  retreating  in  all  directions,  the  whole  coun- 
try being  soon  covered  with  the  awful  specta- 
cles which  are  afforded  by  one  terrified  and 
panic-stricken  army  flying  before  the  furious 
and  triumphant  rage  of  another.  Mary  gazed 
on  the  scene  in  an  agony  of  grief  and  despair. 

A  few  faithful  friends  kept  near  her  side,  and 
told  her  that  she  must  hurrv  away*.      They 


246         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1568. 

Mary's  flight  Dundrennan.  Consultations. 

turned  to  the  southward,  and  rode  away  from 
the  ground.  They  pressed  on  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible toward  the  southern  coast,  thinking  that 
the  only  safety  for  Mary  now  was  for  her  to 
make  her  escape  from  the  country  altogether, 
and  go  either  to  England  or  to  France,  in  hopes 
of  obtaining  foreign  aid  to  enable  her  to  recover 
her  throne.  They  at  length  reached  the  sea- 
coast.  Mary  was  received  into  an  abbey  called 
Dundrennan,  not  far  from  the  English  frontier. 
Here  she  remained,  with  a  few  nobles  and  a 
small  body  of  attendants,  for  two  days,  spend- 
ing the  time  in  anxious  consultations  to  determ- 
ine what  should  be  done.  Mary  herself  was 
in  favor  of  going  to  England,  and  appealing  to 
Elizabeth  for  protection  and  help.  Her  friends 
and  advisers,  knowing  Elizabeth  perhaps  better 
than  Mary  did,  recommended  that  she  should 
sail  for  France,  in  hopes  of  awakening  sympa- 
thy there.  But  Mary,  as  we  might  naturally 
have  expected,  considering  the  circumstances 
under  which  she  left  that  country,  found  her- 
self extremely  unwilling  to  go  there  as  a  fugi- 
tive and  a  suppliant.  It  was  decided,  finally, 
to  go  to  England. 

The  nearest  stronghold  in  England  was  Car- 
lisle Castle,  which  was  not  very  far  from  the 


1568.]       The    Long    Captivity.  247 

Carlisle  Castle.  Mary's  message  to  the  governor. 

frontier.  The  boundary  between  the  two  king- 
doms is  formed  here  by  the  Sol  way  Frith,  a 
broad  arm  of  the  sea.  Dundrennan  Abbey,  to 
which  Mary  had  retreated,  was  near  the  town 
of  Kirkcudbright,  which  is,  of  course,  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  Frith ;  it  is  also  near  the 
sea.  Carlisle  is  further  up  the  Frith,  near 
where  the  River  Solway  empties  into  it,  and  is 
twenty  or  thirty  miles  from  the  shore. 

Mary  sent  a  messenger  to  the  governor  of 
the  castle  at  Carlisle  to  inquire  whether  he 
would  receive  and  protect  her.  She  could  not, 
however,  wait  for  an  answer  to  this  message,  as 
the  country  was  all  in  commotion,  and  she  was 
exposed  to  an  attack  at  any  time  from  Mur- 
ray's forces,  in  which  case,  even  if  they  should 
not  succeed  in  taking  her  captive,  they  might 
effectually  cut  off  her  retreat  from  Scottish 
ground.  She  accordingly  determined  to  pro- 
ceed immediately,  and  receive  the  answer  from 
the  governor  of  the  castle  on  the  way.  She 
set  out  on  the  16th  of  May.  Eighteen  or 
twenty  persons  constituted  her  train.  This 
was  all  that  remained  to  her  of  her  army  of  six 
thousand  men.  She  proceeded  to  the  shore. 
They  provided  a  fishing-boat  for  the  voyage, 
furnishing  it  as  comfortably  for  her  as  circum- 


248         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1568. 

Lowther.  Mary's  reception  at  the  castle. 

stances  would  admit.  She  embarked,  and  sail- 
ed along  the  coast,  eastward,  up  the  Frith,  for 
about  eighteen  miles,  gazing  mournfully  upon 
the  receding  shore  of  her  native  land — receding, 
in  fact,  now  from  her  view  forever.  They 
landed  at  the  most  convenient  port  for  reaching 
Carlisle,  intending  to  take  the  remainder  oT  the 
journey  by  land. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  messenger,  on  his  ar- 
rival at  Carlisle,  found  that  the  governor  had 
gone  to  London.  His  second  in  rank,  whom 
he  had  left  in  command,  immediately  sent  off 
an  express  after  him  to  inform  him  of  the  event. 
The  name  of  this  lieutenant-governor  was  Low- 
ther. Lowther  did  all  in  Mary's  favor  that  it 
was  in  his  power  to  do.  He  directed  the  mes- 
senger to  inform  her  that  he  had  sent  to  Lon- 
don for  instructions  from  Elizabeth,  but  that, 
in  the  mean  time,  she  would  be  a  welcome 
guest  in  his  castle,  and  that  he  would  defend 
her  there  from  all  her  enemies.  He  then  sent 
around  to  all  the  nobles  and  men  of  distinction 
in  the  neighborhood,  informing  them  of  the  ar- 
rival of  the  distinguished  visitor,  and  having  as- 
sembled them,  they  proceeded  together  toward 
the  coast  to  meet  and  receive  the  unhappy  fu- 
gitive  with    the    honors    becoming   her    rank, 


1568.]       The    Long    Captivity.  249 

Is  Mary  a  guest  or  a  prisoner  ?  Precautions  for  guarding  her. 

though  such  honors   must  have   seemed  little 
else  than  a  mockery  in  her  present  condition. 

Mary  was  received  at  the  castle  as  an  hon- 
ored guest.  It  is,  however,  a  curious  circum- 
stance, that,  in  respect  to  the  reception  of  princes 
and  queens  in  royal  castles,  there  is  little  or  no 
distinction  between  the  ceremonies  which  mark 
the  honored  guest  and  those  which  attend  the 
helpless  captive.  Mary  had  a  great  many  friends 
at  first,  who  came  out  of  Scotland  to  visit  her. 
The  authorities  ordered  repairs  to  be  commenced 
upon  the  castle,  to  fit  it  more  suitably  for  so 
distinguished  an  inmate,  and,  in  consequence 
of  the  making  of  these  repairs,  they  found  it  in- 
convenient to  admit  visitors.  Of  course,  Mary, 
being  a  mere  guest,  could  not  complain.  She 
wanted  to  take  a  walk  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
castle,  upon  a  green  to  which  there  was  access 
through  a  postern  gate.  Certainly  :  the  gov- 
ernor made  no  objection  to  such  a  walk,  but 
sent  twenty  or  thirty  armed  men  to  accompany 
her.  They  might  be  considered  either  as  an 
honorary  escort,  or  as  a  guard  to  watch  her 
movements,  to  prevent  her  escape,  and  to  se- 
cure her  return.  At  one  time  she  proposed  to 
go  a  hunting.  They  allowed  her  to  go,  prop- 
erly attended.     On  her  return,  however,  the 


250         Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1568. 


Elizabeth's  hypocrisy.  Dishonorable  proposal 

officer  reported  to  his  superior  that  she  was  so 
admirable  in  her  horsemanship,  and  could  ride 
with  so  much  fearlessness  and  speed,  that  he 
thought  it  might  be  possible  for  a  body  of  her 
friends  to  come  and  carry  her  off,  on  some  such 
occasion,  back  across  the  frontier.  So  they  de- 
termined to  tell  Mary,  when  she  wanted  to  hunt 
again,  that  they  thought  it  not  safe  for  her  to 
go  out  on  such  excursions,  as  her  enemies  might 
make  a  sudden  invasion  and  carry  her  away. 
The  precautions  would  be  just  the  same  to  pro- 
tect Mary  from  her  enemies  as  to  keep  her  from 
her  friends. 

Elizabeth  sent  her  captive  cousin  very  kind 
and  condoling  messages,  dispatching,  however, 
by  the  same  messenger  stringent  orders  to  the 
commander  of  the  castle  to  be  sure  and  keep 
her  safely.  Mary  asked  for  an  interview  with 
Elizabeth.  Elizabeth's  officers  replied  that  she 
could  not  properly  admit  Mary  to  a  personal  in- 
terview until  she  had  been,  in  some  way  or  oth- 
er, cleared  of  the  suspicion  which  attached  to  her 
in  respect  to  the  murder  of  Darnley.  They  pro- 
posed, moreover,  that  Mary  should  consent  to 
have  that  question  examined  before  some  sort 
of  court  which  Elizabeth  might  constitute  for 
this  purpose.     Now  it  is  a  special  point  of  honor 


1568.]       The    Long    Captivity.  251 

Removal.  Separation  from  friends.  Proposed  trial. 

among  all  sovereign  kings  and  queens,  through- 
out the  civilized  world,  that  they  can,  techni- 
cally, do  no  wrong ;  that  they  can  not  in  any 
way  be  brought  to  trial;  and  especially  that 
they  can  not  be,  by  any  means  or  in  any  way, 
amenable  to  each  other.  Mary  refused  to  ac- 
knowledge any  English  jurisdiction  whatever 
in  respect  to  any  charges  brought  against  her, 
a  sovereign  queen  of  Scotland. 

Elizabeth  removed  her  prisoner  to  another 
castle  further  from  the  frontier  than  Carlisle,  in 
order  to  place  her  in  a  situation  where  she  would 
be  more  safe  from  her  enemies.  It  was  not  con- 
venient to  lodge  so  many  of  her  attendants  at 
these  new  quarters  as  in  the  other  fortress,  and 
several  were  dismissed.  Additional  obstructions 
were  thrown  in  the  way  of  her  seeing  friends 
and  visitors  from  Scotland.  Mary  found  her 
situation  growing  every  day  more  and  more 
helpless  and  desolate.  Elizabeth  urged  contin- 
ually upon  her  the  necessity  of  having  the  points 
at  issue  between  herself  and  Murray  examined 
by  a  commissioner,  artfully  putting  it  on  the 
ground,  not  of  a  trial  of  Mary,  but  a  calling  of 
Murray  to  account,  by  Mary,  for  his  usurpa- 
tion. At  last,  harassed  and  worn  down,  and 
finding  no  ray  of  hope  coming  to  her  from  any 


252         Mary  Queen   of    Scots.     [1569. 

Opening  of  the  court.  Adjourned  to  London. 

quarter,  she  consented.  Elizabeth  constituted 
such  a  court,  which  was  to  meet  at  York,  a 
large  and  ancient  city  in  the  north  of  England. 
Murray  was  to  appear  there  in  person,  with 
other  lords  associated  with  him.  Mary  appoint- 
ed commissioners  to  appear  for  her ;  and  the 
two  parties  went  into  court,  each  thinking  that 
it  was  the  other  which  was  accused  and  on  trial. 
The  court  assembled,  and,  after  being  opened 
with  great  parade  and  ceremony,  commenced 
the  investigation  of  the  questions  at  issue,  which 
led,  of  course,  to  endless  criminations  and  re- 
criminations, the  ground  covering  the  whole 
history  of  Mary's  career  in  Scotland.  They 
went  on  for  some  weeks  in  this  endless  laby- 
rinth, until,  at  length,  Murray  produced  the  fa- 
mous letters  alleged  to  have  been  written  by 
Mary  to  Bothwell  before  Darnley's  murder,  as 
a  part  of  the  evidence,  and  charged  Mary,  on 
the  strength  of  this  evidence,  with  having  been 
an  abettor  in  the  murder.  Elizabeth,  finding 
that  the  affair  was  becoming,  as  in  fact  she 
wished  it  to  become,  more  and  more  involved, 
and  wishing  to  get  Mary  more  and  more  entan- 
gled in  it,  and  to  draw  her  still  further  into  her 
power,  ordered  the  conference,  as  the  court  was 
called,  to  be  adjourned  to  London.    Here  things 


1569.]       The    Long    Captivity.  253 

Failure  of  the  trial.  Mary's  indignant  pride. 

took  such  a  turn  that  Mary  complained  that  she 
was  herself  treated  in  so  unjust  a  manner,  and 
Murray  and  his  cause  were  allowed  so  many 
unfair  advantages,  that  she  could  not  allow  the 
discussion  on  her  part  to  continue.  The  con- 
ference was  accordingly  broken  up,  each  party 
charging  the  other  with  being  the  cause  of  the 
interruption. 

Murray  returned  to  Scotland  to  resume  his 
government  there.  Mary  was  held  a  closer 
captive  than  ever.  She  sent  to  Elizabeth  ask- 
ing her  to  remove  these  restraints,  and  allow 
her  to  depart  either  to  her  own  country  or  to 
France.  Elizabeth  replied  that  she  could  not, 
considering  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
allow  her  to  leave  England  ;  but  that,  if  she 
would  give  up  all  claims  to  the  government  of 
Scotland  to  her  son,  the  young  prince,  she 
might  remain  in  peace  in  England.  Mary  re- 
plied that  she  would  suffer  death  a  thousand 
times  rather  than  dishonor  herself  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world  by  abandoning,  in  such  a  way,  her 
rights  as  a  sovereign.  The  last  words  which 
she  should  speak,  she  said,  should  be  those  of 
the  Queen  of  Scotland. 

Elizabeth  therefore  considered  that  she  had 
no  alternative  left  but  to  retain  Mary  a  prison- 


254         Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1569. 

Elizabeth's  negotiations  with.  Murray.  Their  failure. 

er.  She  accordingly  continued  her  for  some 
time  in  confinement,  but  she  soon  found  that 
such  a  charge  was  a  serious  incumbrance  to 
her,  and  one  not  unattended  with  danger.  The 
disaffected  in  her  own  realm  were  beginning  to 
form  plots,  and  to  consider  whether  they  could 
not,  in  some  way  or  other,  make  use  of  Mary's 
claims  to  the  English  crown  to  aid  them.  Fi- 
nally, Elizabeth  came  to  the  conclusion,  when 
she  had  become  a  little  satiated  with  the  feel- 
ing, at  first  so  delightful,  of  having  Mary  in  her 
power,  that,  after  all,  it  would  be  quite  as  con- 
venient to  have  her  imprisoned  in  Scotland,  and 
she  opened  a  negotiation  with  Murray  for  de- 
livering Mary  into  his  hands.  He  was,  on  his 
part,  to  agree  to  save  her  life,  and  to  keep  her 
a  close  prisoner,  and  he  was  to  deliver  hostages 
to  Elizabeth  as  security  for  the  fulfillment  of 
these  obligations. 

Various  difficulties,  however,  occurred  in  the 
way  of  the  accomplishment  of  these  plans,  and 
before  the  arrangement  was  finally  completed, 
it  was  cut  suddenly  short  by  Murray's  misera- 
ble end.  One  of  the  Hamiltons,  who  had  been 
with  Mary  at  Langside,  was  taken  prisoner 
after  the  battle.  Murray,  who,  of  course,  as 
the  legally  constituted  regent  in  the  name  of 


1569.]       The    Long    Captivity.  255 

Cruel  treatment  of  Lady  Hamilton.  Hamilton  resolves  on  revenge. 

James,  considered  himself  as  representing  the 
royal  authority  of  the  kingdom,  regarded  these 
prisoners  as  rebels  taken  in  the  act  of  insurrec- 
tion against  their  sovereign.  They  were  con- 
demned to  death,  but  finally  were  pardoned  at 
the  place  of  execution.  Their  estates  were, 
however,  confiscated,  and  given  to  the  followers 
and  favorites  of  Murray. 

One  of  these  men,  in  taking  possession  of  the 
house  of  Hamilton,  with  a  cruel  brutality  char- 
acteristic of  the  times,  turned  Hamilton's  fami- 
ly out  abruptly  in  a  cold  night,  possibly  exas- 
perated by  resistance  which  he  may  have  en- 
countered. The  wife  of  Hamilton,  it  is  said, 
was  sent  out  naked ;  but  the  expression  means, 
probably,  very  insufficiently  clothed  for  such  an 
exposure.  At  any  rate,  the  unhappy  outcast 
wandered  about,  half  frantic  with  anger  and 
terror,  until,  before  morning,  she  was  wholly 
frantic  and  insane.  To  have  such  a  calamity 
brought  upon  him  in  consequence  merely  of  his 
fidelity  to  his  queen,  was,  as  the  bereaved  and 
wretched  husband  thought,  an  injury  not  to  be 
borne.  He  considered  Murray  the  responsible 
author  of  these  miseries,  and  silently  and  calm- 
ly resolved  on  a  terrible  revenge. 

Murray  was  making  a  progress  through  the 


256         Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1569. 

Hamilton's  plans.  Death  of  Murray. 

country,  traveling  in  state  with  a  great  reti- 
nue, and  was  to  pass  through  Linlithgow. 
There  is  a  town  of  that  name  close  by  the  pal- 
ace. Hamilton  provided  himself  with  a  room 
in  one  of  the  houses  on  the  principal  street, 
through  which  he  knew  that  Murray  must 
pass.  He  had  a  fleet  horse  ready  for  him  at 
the  back  door.  The  front  door  was  barricaded. 
There  was  a  sort  of  balcony  or  gallery  project- 
ing toward  the  street,  with  a  window  in  it. 
He  stationed  himself  here,  having  carefully 
taken  every  precaution  to  prevent  his  being 
seen  from  the  street,  or  overheard  in  his  move- 
ments. Murray  lodged  in  the  town  during  the 
night,  and  Hamilton  posted  himself  in  his  am- 
buscade the  next  morning. 

The  town  was  thronged,  and  Murray,  on  is- 
suing from  his  lodging,  escorted  by  his  caval- 
cade, found  the  streets  crowded  with  specta- 
tors. He  made  his  way  slowly,  on  account  of 
the  throng.  When  he  arrived  at  the  proper 
point,  Hamilton  took  his  aim  in  a  cool  and  de- 
liberate manner,  screened  from  observation  by 
black  cloths  with  which  he  had  darkened  his  hid- 
ing-place. He  fired.  The  ball  passed  through 
the  body  of  the  regent,  and  thence,  descending 
as  it  went,  killed  a  horse  on  the  other  side  of 


1570.]       The    Long    Captivity.  257 

Hamilton's  flight.  Mary's  grief.  Duke  of  Norfolk. 

him.  Murray  fell.  There  was  a  universal 
outcry  of  surprise  and  fear.  They  made  an 
onset  upon  the  house  from  which  the  shot  had 
been  fired.  The  door  was  strongly  barricaded. 
Before  they  could  get  the  means  to  force  an 
entrance,  Hamilton  was  on  his  horse  and  far 
away.  The  regent  was  carried  to  his  lodgings, 
and  died  that  night. 

Murray  was  Queen  Mary's  half  brother,  and 
the  connection  of  his  fortunes  with  hers,  con- 
sidered in  respect  to  its  intimacy  and  the  length 
of  its  duration,  was,  on  the  whole,  greater  than 
that  of  any  other  individual.  He  may  be  said 
to  have  governed  Scotland,  in  reality,  during 
the  whole  of  Mary's  nominal  reign,  first  as  her 
minister  and  friend,  and  afterward  as  her  com- 
petitor and  foe.  He  was,  at  any  rate,  during 
most  of  her  life,  her  nearest  relative  and  her 
most  constant  companion,  and  Mary  mourned 
his  death  with  many  tears. 

There  was  a  great  nobleman  in  England, 
named  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had  vast  es- 
tates, and  was  regarded  as  the  greatest  subject 
in  the  realm.  He  was  a  Catholic.  Among 
the  other  countless  schemes  and  plots  to  which 
Mary's  presence  in  England  gave  rise,  he 
formed  a  plan  of  marrying  her,  and,  through  her 
17 


258         Mary  Queen    of    Scots.     [1570. 

Duke  of  Norfolk  beheaded.  Mary's  unhappy  situation. 

claim  to  the  crown  and  by  the  help  of  the  Cath- 
olics, to  overturn  the  government  of  Elizabeth. 
He  entered  into  negotiations  with  Mary,  and 
she  consented  to  become  his  wife,  without, 
however,  as  she  says,  being  a  party  to  his  po- 
litical schemes.  His  plots  were  discovered; 
he  was  imprisoned,  tried,  and  beheaded.  Mary 
was  accused  of  sharing  the  guilt  of  his  treason. 
She  denied  this.  She  was  not  very  vigorously 
proceeded  against,  but  she  suffered  in  the  event 
of  the  affair  another  sad  disappointment  of  her 
hopes  of  liberty,  and  her  confinement  became 
more  strict  and  absolute  than  ever. 

Still  she  had  quite  a  numerous  retinue  of 
attendants.  Many  of  her  former  friends  were 
allowed  to  continue  with  her.  Jane  Kennedy, 
who  had  escaped  with  her  from  Loch  Leven,  re- 
mained in  her  service.  She  was  removed  from 
castle  to  castle,  at  Elizabeth's  orders,  to  dimin- 
ish the  probability  of  the  forming  and  maturing 
of  plans  of  escape.  She  amused  herself  some- 
times in  embroidery  and  similar  pursuits,  and 
sometimes  she  pined  and  languished  under  the 
pressure  of  her  sorrows  and  woes.  Sixteen  or 
eighteen  years  passed  away  in  this  manner. 
She  was  almost  forgotten.  Very  exciting  pub- 
lic events  were  taking  place  in  England  and  in 


1570.]       The    Long   Captivity.  259 

Mary  almost  forgotten  in  her  captivity. 

Scotland,  and  the  name  of  the  poor  captive  queen 
at  length  seemed  to  pass  from  men's  minds,  ex- 
cept so  far  as  it  was  whispered  secretly  in  plots 
and  intrigues. 


260         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1586. 

Plots  and  intrigues.  How  far  Mary  was  involved. 


Chapter    XII. 
The    End. 

MARY  did  not  always  discourage  the  plots 
and  intrigues  with  which  her  name  was 
connected.  She,  of  course,  longed  for  deliver- 
ance from  the  thraldom  in  which  Elizabeth 
held  her,  and  was  ready  to  embrace  any  op- 
portunity which  promised  release.  She  thus 
seems  to  have  listened  from  time  to  time  to  the 
overtures  which  were  made  to  her,  and  involv- 
ed herself,  in  Elizabeth's  opinion,  more  or  less, 
in  the  responsibility  which  attached  to  them. 
Elizabeth  did  not,  however,  in  such  cases,  do 
any  thing  more  than  to  increase  somewhat  the 
rigors  of  her  imprisonment.  She  was  afraid  to 
proceed  to  extremities  with  her,  partly,  per- 
haps, for  fear  that  she  might,  by  doing  so, 
awaken  the  hostility  of  France,  whose  king 
was  Mary's  cousin,  or  of  Scotland,  whose  mon- 
arch was  her  son. 

At  length,  however,  in  the  year  1586,  about 
eighteen   years    from    the   commencement   of 


1586.] 

The    End. 

261 

Babington's  conspiracy. 

Secret  correspondence. 

Mary's  captivity,  a  plot  was  formed  in  which 
she  became  so  seriously  involved  as  to  subject 
herself  to  the  charge  of  aiding  and  abetting  in 
the  high  treason  of  which  the  leaders  of  the  plot 
were  proved  to  be  guilty.  This  plot  is  known 
in  history  by  the  name  of  Babington's  conspir- 
acy. Babington  was  a  young  gentleman  of 
fortune,  who  lived  in  the  heart  of  England. 
He  was  inspired  with  a  strong  degree  of  inter- 
est in  Mary's  fate,  and  wished  to  rescue  her 
from  her  captivity.  He  joined  himself  with  a 
large  party  of  influential  individuals  of  the 
Catholic  faith.  The  conspirators  opened  nego- 
tiations with  the  courts  of  France  and  Spain 
for  aid.  They  planned  an  insurrection,  the  as- 
sassination of  Elizabeth,  the  rescue  of  Mary, 
and  a  general  revolution.  They  maintained  a 
correspondence  with  Mary.  This  correspond- 
ence was  managed  very  secretly,  the  letters 
being  placed  by  a  confidential  messenger  in  a 
certain  hole  in  the  castle  wall  where  Queen 
Mary  was  confined. 

One  day,  when  Mary  was  going  out  to  ride, 
just  as  she  was  entering  her  carriage,  officers 
suddenly  arrived  from  London.  They  told  her 
that  the  plot  in  which  she  had  been  engaged 
had  been  discovered ;  that  fourteen  of  the  prin- 


262         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1586. 

Seizure  of  Mary's  papers.  Her  son  James. 

cipal  conspirators  had  been  hung,  seven  on  each 
of  two  successive  days,  and  that  they  had  come 
to  arrest  some  of  her  attendants  and  to  seize 
her  papers.  They  accordingly  went  into  her 
apartments,  opened  all  her  desks,  trunks,  and 
cabinets,  seized  her  papers,  and  took  them  to 
London.  Mary  sat  down  in  the  scene  of  deso- 
lation and  disorder  which  they  left,  and  wept 
bitterly. 

The  papers  which  were  seized  were  taken  to 
London,  and  Elizabeth's  government  began  se- 
riously to  agitate  the  question  of  bringing  Mary 
herself  to  trial.  One  would  have  thought  that, 
in  her  forlorn  and  desolate  condition,  she  would 
have  looked  to  her  son  for  sympathy  and  aid. 
But  rival  claimants  to  a  crown  can  have  little 
kind  feeling  to  each  other,  even  if  they  are  moth- 
er and  son.  James,  as  he  gradually  approach- 
ed toward  maturity,  took  sides  against  his  moth- 
er. In  fact,  all  Scotland  was  divided,  and  was 
for  many  years  in  a  state  of  civil  war :  those 
who  advocated  Mary's  right  to  the  crown  on 
one  side,  and  James's  adherents  on  the  other. 
They  were  called  king's  men  and  queen's  men. 
James  was,  of  course,  brought  up  in  hostility  to 
his  mother,  and  he  wrote  to  her,  about  a  year 
before  Babington's  conspiracy,  in  terms  so  hos- 


1586.]  The   End.  263 

Elizabeth  resolves  to  bring  Mary  to  trial.  Fotheringay  Castle, 

tile  and  so  devoid  of  filial  love,  that  his  ingrati- 
tude stung  her  to  the  heart.  "  Was  it  for  this," 
she  said,  "that  I  made  so  many  sacrifices,  and 
endured  so  many  trials  on  his  account  in  his 
early  years  ?  I  have  made  it  the  whole  busi- 
ness of  my  life  to  protect  and  secure  his  rights, 
and  to  open  before  him  a  prospect  of  future 
power  and  glory :  and  this  is  the  return." 

The  English  government,  under  Elizabeth's 
direction,  concluded  to  bring  Mary  to  a  public 
trial.  They  removed  her,  accordingly,  to  the 
Castle  of  Fotheringay.  Fotheringay  is  in  Nor- 
thamptonshire, which  is  in  the  very  heart  of 
England,  Northampton,  the  shire  town,  being 
about  sixty  miles  northwest  of  London.  Foth- 
eringay Castle  was  on  the  banks  of  the  River 
Nen,  or  Avon,  which  flows  northeast  from  Nor- 
thampton to  the  sea.  A  few  miles  below  the 
castle  is  the  ancient  town  of  Peterborough, 
where  there  was  a  monastery  and  a  great  ca- 
thedral church.  The  monastery  had  been  built 
a  thousand  years  before. 

They  removed  Mary  to  Fotheringay  Castle 
for  her  trial,  and  lawyers,  counselors,  commis- 
sioners, and  officers  of  state  began  to  assemble 
there  from  all  quarters.  The  castle  was  a  spa- 
cious structure.     It  was  siurounded  with  two 


264         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1586. 

Great  interest  in  the  trial.  Preparations  for  it 

moats,  and  with  double  walls,  and  was  strongly 
fortified.  It  contained  numerous  and  spacious 
apartments,  and  it  had  especially  one  large  hall 
which  was  well  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  this 
great  trial.  The  preparations  for  the  solemn 
ordeal  through  which  Mary  was  now  to  pass, 
brought  her  forth  from  the  obscurity  in  which 
she  had  so  long  been  lost  to  the  eyes  of  man- 
kind, and  made  her  the  universal  object  of  in- 
terest and  attention  in  England,  Scotland,  and 
France.  The  people  of  all  these  nations  looked 
on  with  great  interest  at  the  spectacle  of  one 
queen  tried  solemnly  on  a  charge  of  high  trea- 
son against  another.  The  stories  of  her  beauty, 
her  graces,  her  misfortunes,  which  had  slum- 
bered for  eighteen  years,  were  all  now  revived, 
and  every  body  felt  a  warm  interest  in  the  poor 
captive,  worn  down  by  long  confinement,  and 
trembling  in  the  hands  of  what  they  feared 
would  be  a  merciless  and  terrible  power. 

Mary  was  removed  to  the  Castle  of  Fother- 
ingay  toward  the  end  of  September,  1586.  The 
preparations  for  the  trial  proceeded  slowly. 
Every  thing  in  which  kings  and  queens,  or  af- 
fairs of  state  were  concerned  in  those  days,  was 
conducted  with  great  pomp  and  ceremony.  The 
arrangements  of  the  hall  were  minutely  pre- 


1586.]  The    End.  265 

The  throne.  Mary  refuses  to  plead 


scribed.  At  the  head  of  it  a  sort  of  throne  was 
placed,  with  a  royal  canopy  over  it,  for  the 
Queen  of  England.  This,  though  it  was  va- 
cant, impressed  the  court  and  the  spectators  as 
a  symbol  of  royalty,  and  denoted  that  the  sov- 
ereignty of  Elizabeth  was  the  power  before  which 
Mary  was  arraigned. 

"When  the  preparations  were  made,  Mary  re 
fused  to  acknowledge  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
court.  She  denied  that  they  had  any  right  to 
arraign  or  to  try  her.  "  I  am  no  subject  of 
Elizabeth's,"  said  she.  "  I  am  an  independent 
and  sovereign  queen  as  well  as  she,  and  I  will  not 
consent  to  any  thing  inconsistent  with  this  my 
true  position.  I  owe  no  allegiance  to  England, 
and  I  am  not,  in  any  sense,  subject  to  her  laws. 
I  came  into  the  realm  only  to  ask  assistance 
from  a  sister  queen,  and  I  have  been  made  a 
captive,  and  detained  many  years  in  an  unjust 
and  cruel  imprisonment ;  and  though  now  worn 
down  both  in  body  and  mind  by  my  protracted 
sufferings,  I  am  not  yet  so  enfeebled  as  to  for- 
get what  is  due  to  myself,  my  ancestors,  and 
my  country." 

This  refusal  of  Mary's  to  plead,  or  to  ac- 
knowledge the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  caused 
a  new  delay.     They  urged  her  to  abandon  her 


266         Mary    Queen   of    Scots.     [1586 

The  commission.  The  great  ball. 

resolution.  They  told  her  that  if  she  refused 
to  plead,  the  trial  would  proceed  without  her 
action,  and,  by  pursuing  such  a  course,  she 
would  only  deprive  herself  of  the  means  of  de- 
fense, without  at  all  impeding  the  course  of  her 
fate.  At  length  Mary  yielded.  It  would  have 
been  better  for  her  to  have  adhered  to  her  first 
intention. 

The  commission  by  which  Mary  was  to  be 
tried  consisted  of  earls,  barons,  and  other  per- 
sons of  rank,  twenty  or  thirty  in  number.  They 
were  seated  on  each  side  of  the  room,  the  throne 
being  at  the  head.  In  the  center  was  a  table, 
where  the  lawyers,  by  whom  the  trial  was  to  be 
conducted,  were  seated.  Below  this  table  was 
a  chair  for  Mary.  Behind  Mary's  chair  was  a 
rail,  dividing  off  the  lower  end  of  the  hall  from 
the  court ;  and  this  formed  an  outer  space,  to 
which  some  spectators  were  admitted. 

Mary  took  her  place  in  the  seat  assigned  her, 
and  the  trial  proceeded.  They  adduced  the  evi- 
dence against  her,  and  then  asked  for  her  defense. 
She  said  substantially  that  she  had  a  right  to 
make  an  effort  to  recover  her  liberty ;  that,  aft- 
er being  confined  a  captive  so  long,  and  having 
lost  forever  her  youth,  her  health,  and  her  hap- 
piness, it  was  not  wonderful  that  she  wished  to 


1586.]  The    End.  267 

Mary  pronounced  guilty.  Elizabeth's  pretended  sorrow 

be  free  ;  but  that,  in  endeavoring  to  obtain  her 
freedom,  she  had  formed  no  plans  to  injure  Eliz- 
abeth, or  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  her  rights 
or  prerogatives  as  queen.  The  commissioners, 
after  devoting  some  days  to  hearing  evidence, 
and  listening  to  the  defense,  sent  Mary  back  to 
her  apartments,  and  went  to  London.  There 
they  had  a  final  consultation,  and  unanimously 
agreed  in  the  following  decision :  "  That  Mary, 
commonly  called  Queen  of  Scots  and  dowager 
of  France,  had  been  an  accessory  to  Babing- 
ton's  conspiracy,  and  had  compassed  the  death 
of  Elizabeth,  queen  of  England." 

Elizabeth  pretended  to  be  very  much  con- 
cerned at  this  result.  She  laid  the  proceedings 
before  Parliament.  It  was  supposed  then,  and 
has  always  been  supposed  since,  that  she  wished 
Mary  to  be  beheaded,  but  desired  not  to  take 
the  responsibility  of  it  herself;  and  that  she 
wanted  to  appear  unwilling,  and  to  be  impell- 
ed, greatly  against  her  own  inclinations,  by  the 
urgency  of  others,  to  carry  the  sentence  into 
execution.  At  any  rate,  Parliament,  and  all 
the  members  of  the  government,  approved  and 
confirmed  the  verdict,  and  wished  to  have  it 
carried  into  effect. 

It  has  always  been  the  custom,  in  modern 


268         Mary   Queen    of   Scots.     [1586. 

Signing  the  warrant  Shuffling  of  Elizabeth. 

times,  to  require  the  solemn  act  of  the  supreme 
magistrate  of  any  state  to  confirm  a  decision 
of  a  tribunal  which  condemns  a  person  to  death, 
by  signing  what  is  called  a  warrant  for  the  ex- 
ecution. This  is  done  by  the  king  or  queen  in 
England,  and  by  the  governor  in  one  of  the 
United  States.  This  warrant  is  an  order,  very 
formally  written,  and  sealed  with  the  great  seal, 
authorizing  the  executioner  to  proceed,  and  carry 
the  sentence  into  effect.  Of  course,  Queen  Mary 
could  not  be  executed  unless  Elizabeth  should 
first  sign  the  warrant.  Elizabeth  would  her- 
self, probably,  have  been  better  pleased  to  have 
been  excused  from  all  direct  agency  in  the  af- 
fair. But  this  could  not  be.  She,  however, 
made  much  delay,  and  affected  great  unwill- 
ingness to  proceed.  She  sent  messengers  to 
Mary,  telling  her  what  the  sentence  had  been, 
how  sorry  she  was  to  hear  it,  and  how  much 
she  desired  to  save  her  life,  if  it  were  possible. 
At  the  same  time,  she  told  her  that  she  feared 
it  might  not  be  in  her  power,  and  she  advised 
Mary  to  prepare  her  mind  for  the  execution  of 
the  sentence. 

Mary  wrote  a  letter  to  Elizabeth  in  reply. 
She  said  in  this  letter  that  she  was  glad  to  hear 
that  they  had  pronounced  sentence   of  death 


1586.]  The    End.  269 

Mary's  letter  to  Elizabeth.  Interposition  of  Mary's  friends 

against  her,  for  she  was  weary  of  life,  and  had 
no  hope  of  relief  or  rest  from  her  miseries  but 
in  the  grave.  She  wrote,  therefore,  not  to  ask 
any  change  in  the  decision,  but  to  make  three 
requests.  First,  that,  after  her  execution,  her 
body  might  be  removed  to  France,  and  be  de- 
posited at  Rheims,  where  the  ashes  of  her  moth- 
er were  reposing.  Secondly,  that  her  execu 
tion  should  not  be  in  secret,  but  that  her  per- 
sonal friends  might  be  present,  to  attest  to  the 
world  that  she  met  her  fate  with  resignation 
and  fortitude ;  and,  thirdly,  that  her  attendants 
and  friends,  who  had,  through  their  faithful  love 
for  her,  shared  her  captivity  so  long,  might  be 
permitted  to  retire  wherever  they  pleased,  after 
her  death,  without  any  molestation.  "  I  hope," 
said  she,  in  conclusion,  "you  will  not  refuse  me 
these  my  dying  requests,  but  that  you  will  as- 
sure me  by  a  letter  under  your  own  hand  that 
you  will  comply  with  them,  and  then  I  shall 
die  as  I  have  lived,  your  affectionate  sister  and 
prisoner,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots." 

The  King  of  France,  and  James,  Mary's  son 
in  Scotland,  made  somewhat  vigorous  efforts  to 
arrest  the  execution  of  the  sentence  which  had 
been  pronounced  against  Mary.  From  these 
and  other  causes,  the  signing  of  the  warrant 


270         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1587. 

Elizabeth  signs  the  warrant.  It  is  read  to  Mary. 

was  delayed  for  some  months,  but  at  length 
Elizabeth  yielded  to  the  solicitations  of  her  min- 
isters. She  affixed  her  signature  to  the  instru- 
ment. The  chancellor  put  upon  it  the  great 
seal,  and  the  commissioners  who  were  appointed 
by  it  to  superintend  the  execution  went  to 
Fotheringay.  They  arrived  there  on  the  7th 
of  February,  1587. 

After  resting,  and  refreshing  themselves  for 
a  short  time  from  their  journey,  the  commis- 
sioners sent  word  to  Mary  that  they  wished  for 
an  interview  with  her.  Mary  had  retired.  They 
said  that  their  business  was  very  important. 
She  rose,  and  prepared  to  receive  them.  She 
assembled  all  her  attendants,  fourteen  or  fifteen 
in  number,  in  order  to  receive  the  commission- 
ers in  a  manner  comporting,  so  far  as  circum- 
stances allowed,  with  her  rank  and  station. 
The  commissioners  were  at  length  ushered  into 
the  apartment.  They  stood  respectfully  before 
her,  with  their  heads  uncovered.  The  foremost 
then,  in  language  as  forbearing  and  gentle  as 
was  consistent  with  the  nature  of  his  message, 
informed  her  that  it  had  been  decided  to  carry 
the  sentence  which  had  been  pronounced  against 
her  into  effect,  and  then  he  requested  another 
of  the  number  to  read  the  warrant  for  her  exe- 
cution. 


I  B  M|!I'M!|  !|fl 


1587.]  The    End.  273 

Mary  hears  the  sentence  with  composure.  Protests  her  innocence. 

Mary  listened  to  it  calmly  and  patiently. 
Her  attendants,  one  after  another,  were  over- 
come by  the  mournful  and  awful  solemnity  of 
the  scene,  and  melted  into  tears.  Mary,  how- 
ever, was  calm.  When  the  reading  of  the  war- 
rant was  ended,  she  said  that  she  was  sorry 
that  her  cousin  Elizabeth  should  set  the  exam- 
ple of  taking  the  life  of  a  sovereign  queen ;  but 
for  herself,  she  was  willing  to  die.  Life  had 
long  ceased  to  afford  her  any  peace  or  happi- 
ness, and  she  was  ready  to  exchange  it  for  the 
prospect  of  immortality.  She  then  laid  her 
hand  upon  the  New  Testament,  which  was 
near  her,  of  course  a  Catholic  version,  and  call- 
ed God  to  witness  that  she  had  never  plotted 
herself,  or  joined  in  plots  with  others,  for  the 
death  of  Elizabeth.  One  of  the  commissioners 
remarked  that  her  oath  being  upon  a  Catholic 
version  of  the  Bible,  they  should  not  consider  it 
valid.  She  rejoined  that  it  ought  to  be  con- 
sidered the  more  sacred  and  solemn  on  that  ac- 
count, as  that  was  the  version  which  she  re- 
garded as  the  only  one  which  was  authorita- 
tive and  true. 

Mary  then  asked  the  commissioners  several 
questions,  as  whether  her  son  James  had  not 

expressed  anv  interest  in  her  fate,  and  whether 
IS 


274         Mary   Queen    of   Scots.     [1587. 

Mary  refused  a  priest.  Mary  alone  with  her  friends. 

no  foreign  princes  had  interposed  to  save  her. 
The  commissioners  answered  these  and  other 
inquiries,  and  Mary  learned  from  their  answers 
that  her  fate  was  sealed.  She  then  asked  them 
what  time  was  appointed  for  the  execution. 
They  replied  that  it  was  to  take  place  at  eight 
o'clock  the  following  morning. 

Mary  had  not  expected  so  early  an  hour  to 
be  named.  She  said  it  was  sudden ;  and  she 
seemed  agitated  and  distressed.  She,  howev- 
er, soon  recovered  her  composure,  and  asked 
to  have  a  Catholic  priest  allowed  to  visit  her. 
The  commissioners  replied  that  that  could  not 
be  permitted.  They,  however,  proposed  to  send 
the  Dean  of  Peterborough  to  visit  her.  A  dean 
is  the  ecclesiastical  functionary  presiding  over 
a  cathedral  church ;  and,  of  course,  the  Dean 
of  Peterborough  was  the  clergyman  of  the  high- 
est rank  in  that  vicinity.  He  was,  however,  a 
Protestant,  and  Mary  did  not  wish  to  see  him. 

The  commissioners  withdrew,  and  left  Mary 
with  her  friends,  when  there  ensued  one  of 
those  scenes  of  anguish  and  suffering  which 
those  who  witness  them  never  forget,  but  carry 
the  gloomy  remembrance  of  them,  like  a  dark 
shadow  in  the  soul,  to  the  end  of  their  days. 
Mary  was  quiet,  and  appeared  calm.     It  may. 


1587.]  The    End.  275 

Affecting  scene.  Supper.  Mary's  farewell  to  her  attendants. 

however,  have  been  the  calm  of  hopeless  and 
absolute  despair.  Her  attendants  were  over- 
whelmed with  agitation  and  grief,  the  expres- 
sion of  which  they  could  not  even  attempt  to 
control.  At  last  they  became  more  composed, 
and  Mary  asked  them  to  kneel  with  her  in 
prayer ;  and  she  prayed  for  some  time  fervent- 
ly and  earnestly  in  the  midst  of  them. 

She  then  directed  supper  to  be  prepared  as 
usual,  and,  until  it  was  ready,  she  spent  her  time 
in  dividing  the  money  which  she  had  on  hand 
into  separate  parcels  for  her  attendants,  mark- 
ing each  parcel  with  the  name.  She  sat  down 
at  the  table  when  supper  was  served,  and 
though  she  ate  but  little,  she  conversed  as  usual, 
in  a  cheerful  manner,  and  with  smiles.  Her 
friends  were  silent  and  sad,  struggling  contin- 
ually to  keep  back  their  tears.  At  the  close 
of  the  supper  Mary  called  for  a  cup  of  wine, 
and  drank  to  the  health  of  each  one  of  them, 
and  then  asked  them  to  drink  to  her.  They 
took  the  cup,  and,  kneeling  before  her,  complied 
with  her  request,  though,  as  they  did  it,  the 
tears  would  come  to  their  eyes.  Mary  then 
told  them  that  she  willingly  forgave  them  for  all 
that  they  had  ever  done  to  displease  her,  and 
she  thanked  them  for  their  long-continued  fidel- 


276         Mary   Queen    of    Scots.     [1587 

Mary's  last  letters.  Her  directions  as  to  the  disposal  of  her  body. 

ity  and  love.  She  also  asked  that  they  would 
forgive  her  for  any  thing  she  might  ever  have 
done  in  respect  to  them  which  was  inconsistent 
with  her  duty.  They  answered  the  request 
only  with  a  renewal  of  their  tears. 

Mary  spent  the  evening  in  writing  two  let- 
ters to  her  nearest  relatives  in  France,  and  in 
making  her  will.  The  principal  object  of  these 
letters  was  to  recommend  her  servants  to  the 
attention  and  care  of  those  to  whom  they  were 
addressed,  after  she  should  be  gone.  She  went 
to  bed  shortly  after  midnight,  and  it  is  said  she 
slept.  This  would  be  incredible,  if  any  thing 
were  incredible  in  respect  to  the  workings  of 
the  human  soul  in  a  time  of  awful  trial  like  this, 
which  so  transcends  all  the  ordinary  conditions 
of  its  existence.  - 

At  any  rate,  whether  Mary  slept  or  not,  the 
morning  soon  came.  Her  friends  were  around 
her  as  soon  as  she  rose.  She  gave  them  mi- 
nute directions  about  the  disposition  of  her  body. 
She  wanted  it  to  be  taken  to  France  to  be  in- 
terred, as  she  had  requested  of  Elizabeth,  either 
at  Rheims,  in  the  same  tomb  with  the  body  of 
her  mother,  or  else  at  St.  Denis,  an  ancient 
abbey  a  little  north  of  Paris,  where  the  ashes 
of  a  long  line  of  French  monarchs  repose.     She 


1587.]  The    End.  277 

Arrangements  for  the  execution.  The  scaftbld. 

begged  her  servants,  if  possible,  not  to  leave  her 
body  till  it  should  reach  its  final  home  in  one  of 
these  places  of  sepulture. 

In  the  mean  time,  arrangements  had  been 
made  for  the  last  act  in  this  dreadful  tragedy, 
in  the  same  great  hall  where  she  had  been  tried. 
They  raised  a  platform  upon  the  stone  floor  of 
the  hall  large  enough  to  contain  those  who  were 
to  take  part  in  the  closing  scene.  On  this  plat- 
form was  a  block,  a  cushion,  and  a  chair.  All 
these  things,  as  well  as  the  platform  itself,  were 
covered  with  black  cloth,  giving  to  the  whole 
scene  a  most  solemn  and  funereal  expression. 
The  part  of  the  hall  containing  this  scaffold  was 
railed  off  from  the  rest.  The  governor  of  the 
castle,  and  a  body  of  guards,  came  in  and  took 
their  station  at  the  sides  of  the  room.  Two  ex- 
ecutioners, one  holding  the  axe,  stood  upon  the 
scaffold  on  one  side  of  the  block.  Two  of  the 
commissioners  stood  upon  the  other  side.  The 
remaining  commissioners  and  several  gentle- 
men of  the  neighborhood  took  their  places  as 
spectators  without  the  rail.  The  number  of 
persons  thus  assembled  was  about  two  hundred. 
Strange  that  any  one  should  have  come  in,  vol- 
untarily, to  witness  such  a  scene ! 

When  all  was  ready,  the  sheriff,  carrying  his 


278         Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1587. 

Proceeding  to  the  hall.  Interview  with  Melville. 

white  wand  of  office,  and  attended  by  some  of 
the  commissioners,  went  for  Mary.  She  was 
at  her  devotions,  and  she  asked  a  little  delay 
that  she  might  conclude  them  :  perhaps  the 
shrinking  spirit  clung  at  the  last  moment  to 
life,  and  wished  to  linger  a  few  minutes  longer 
before  taking  the  final  farewell.  The  request 
was  granted.  In  a  short  time  Mary  signified 
that  she  was  ready,  and  they  began  to  move 
toward  the  hall  of  execution.  Her  attendants 
were  going  to  accompany  her.  The  sheriff  said 
this  could  not  be  allowed.  She  accordingly 
bade  them  farewell,  and  they  filled  the  castle 
with  the  sound  of  their  shrieks  and  lamenta- 
tions. 

Mary  went  on,  descending  the  stair-case,  at 
the  foot  of  which  she  was  joined  by  one  of  her 
attendants,  from  whom  she  had  been  separated 
for  some  time.  His  name  was  Sir  Andrew 
Melville,  and  he  was  the  master  of  her  house- 
hold. The  name  of  her  secretary  Melville  was 
James.  Sir  Andrew  kneeled  before  her,  kissed 
her  hand,  and  said  that  this  was  the  saddest 
hour  of  his  life.  Mary  began  to  give  him  some 
last  commissions  and  requests.  "  Say,"  said 
she,  "  that  I  died  firm  in  the  faith  ;  that  I  for- 
give my  enemies  ;  that  I  feel  that  I  have  never 


1587.]  The    End.  279 

Mary's  last  message.  She  desires  the  presence  of  her  attendants, 

disgraced  Scotland,  my  native  country,  and  that 
I  have  been  always  true  to  France,  the  land  of 
my  happiest  years.  Tell  my  son — "  Here  her 
voice  faltered  and  ceased  to  be  heard,  and  she 
burst  into  tears. 

She  struggled  to  regain  her  composure. 
"  Tell  my  son,"  said  she,  "  that  I  thought  of 
him  in  my  last  moments,  and  that  I  have  never 
yielded,  either  by  word  or  deed,  to  any  thing 
whatever  that  might  lead  to  his  prejudice. 
Tell  him  to  cherish  the  memory  of  his  mother, 
and  say  that  I  sincerely  hope  his  life  may  be 
happier  than  mine  has  been." 

Mary  then  turned  to  the  commissioners  who 
stood  by,  and  renewed  her  request  that  her  at- 
tendants, who  had  just  been  separated  from 
her,  might  come  down  and  see  her  die.  The 
commissioners  objected.  They  said  that  if 
these  attendants  were  admitted,  their  anguish 
and  lamentations  would  only  add  to  her  own 
distress,  and  make  the  whole  scene  more  pain- 
ful. Mary,  however,  urged  the  request.  She 
said  they  had  been  devotedly  attached  to  her 
all  her  days;  they  had  shared  her  captivity, 
and  loved  and  served  her  faithfully  to  the  end, 
and  it  was  enough  if  she  herself,  and  they,  de- 
sired that  they  should  be  present.      The  com- 


280         Mary  Queen   of    Scots.     [1587. 

Mary's  dress  and  appearance.  Symbols  of  religion. 

missioners  at  last  yielded,  and  allowed  her  to 
name  six,  who  should  be  summoned  to  attend 
her.     She  did  so,  and  the  six  came  down. 

The  sad  procession  then  proceeded  to  the 
hall.  Mary  was  in  full  court  dress,  and  walk- 
ed into  the  apartment  with  the  air  and  com- 
posure of  a  reigning  queen.  She  leaned  on  the 
arm  of  her  physician.  Sir  Andrew  Melville 
followed,  bearing  the  train  of  her  robe.  Her 
dress  is  described  as  a  gown  of  black  silk,  bor- 
dered with  crimson  velvet,  over  which  was  a 
satin  mantle.  A  long  veil  of  white  crape, 
edged  with  rich  lace,  hung  down  almost  to  the 
ground.  Around  her  neck  was  an  ivory  cru- 
cifix— that  is,  an  image  of  Christ  upon  the 
cross,  which  the  Catholics  use  as  a  memorial 
of  our  Savior's  sufferings — and  a  rosary,  which 
is  a  string  of  beads  of  peculiar  arrangement, 
often  employed  by  them  as  an  aid  in  their  de- 
votions. Mary  meant,  doubtless,  by  these  sym- 
bols, to  show  to  her  enemies  and  to  the  world, 
that  though  she  submitted  to  her  fate  without 
resistance,  yet,  so  far  as  the  contest  of  her  life 
had  been  one  of  religions  faith,  she  had  no  in- 
tention of  yielding. 

Mary  ascended  the  platform  and  took  her 
seat  in  the  chair  provided  for  her.      With  the 


1587.]  The    End.  281 

Mary'8  firmness  in  her  faith.  Her  last  prayer. 

exception  of  stifled  sobs  here  and  there  to  be 
heard,  the  room  was  still.  An  officer  then  ad- 
vanced and  read  the  warrant  of  execution, 
which  the  executioners  listened  to  as  their  au- 
thority for  doing  the  dreadful  work  which  they 
were  about  to  perform.  The  Dean  of  Peter- 
borough, the  Protestant  ecclesiastic  whom  Mary 
had  refused  to  see,  then  came  forward  to  the 
foot  of  the  platform,  and  most  absurdly  com- 
menced an  address  to  her,  with  a  view  to  con- 
vert her  to  the  Protestant  faith.  Mary  inter- 
rupted him,  saying  that  she  had  been  born  and 
had  lived  a  Catholic,  and  she  was  resolved  so 
to  die ;  and  she  asked  him  to  spare  her  his  use- 
less reasonings.  The  dean  persisted  in  going 
on.  Mary  turned  away  from  him,  kneeled 
down,  and  began  to  offer  a  Latin  prayer.  The 
•dean  soon  brought  his  ministrations  to  a  close, 
and  then  Mary  prayed  for  some  time,  in  a  dis- 
tinct and  fervent  voice,  in  English,  the  large 
company  listening  with  breathless  attention. 
She  prayed  for  her  own  soul,  and  that  she 
might  have  comfort  from  heaven  in  the  agony 
of  death.  She  implored  God's  blessing  upon 
France  ;  upon  Scotland ;  upon  England ;  upon 
Queen  Elizabeth ;  and,  more  than  all,  upon  her 
son.     During  this  time  she  held  the  ivory  cru- 


282         Mary    Queen    of    Scots.     [1587. 

The  execution.  Heart-rending  scene.  Disposition  of  the  body. 

cifix  in  her  hand,  clasping  it  and  raising  it  from 
time  to  time  toward  heaven. 

When  her  prayer  was  ended,  she  rose,  and, 
with  the  assistance  of  her  attendants,  took  off 
her  veil,  and  such  other  parts  of  her  dress  as  it 
was  necessary  to  remove  in  order  to  leave  the 
neck  bare,  and  then  she  kneeled  forward  and 
laid  her  head  upon  the  block.  The  agitation 
of  the  assembly  became  extreme.  Some  turned 
away  from  the  scene  faint  and  sick  at  heart; 
some  looked  more  eagerly  and  intensely  at  the 
group  upon  the  scaffold  ;  some  wept  and  sobbed 
aloud.  The  assistant  executioner  put  Mary's 
two  hands  together  and  held  them ;  the  other 
raised  his  axe,  and,  after  the  horrid  sound  of 
two  or  three  successive  blows,  the  assistant  held 
up  the  dissevered  head,  saying,  "  So  perish  all 
Queen  Elizabeth's  enemies." 

The  assembly  dispersed.  The  body  was 
taken  into  an  adjoining  apartment,  and  pre- 
pared for  interment.  Mary's  attendants  wished 
to  have  it  delivered  to  them,  that  they  might 
comply  with  her  dying  request  to  convey  it  to 
France  ;  but  they  were  told  that  they  could 
not  be  allowed  to  do  so.  The  body  was  interred 
with  great  pomp  and  ceremony  in  the  Cathe- 


1587.]  The   End.  283 

Elizabeth's  affected  surprise.  Her  conduct. 

dral  at  Peterborough,  where    it  remained  in 
peace  for  many  years. 

Now  that  the  deed  was  done,  the  great  prob- 
lem with  Elizabeth  was,  of  course,  to  avert  the 
consequences  of  the  terrible  displeasure  and 
thirst  for  revenge  which  she  might  naturally 
suppose  it  would  awaken  in  Scotland  and  in 
France.  She  succeeded  very  well  in  accom- 
plishing this.  As  soon  as  she  heard  of  the  ex- 
ecution of  Mary,  she  expressed  the  utmost  sur- 
prise, grief,  and  indignation.  She  said  that  she 
had,  indeed,  signed  the  death  warrant,  but  it 
was  not  her  intention  at  all  to  have  it  execut- 
ed ;  and  that,  when  she  delivered  it  to  the  offi- 
cer, she  charged  him  not  to  let  it  go  out  of  his 
possession.  This  the  officer  denied.  Elizabeth 
insisted,  and  punished  the  officer  by  a  long  im- 
prisonment, and  perpetual  disgrace,  for  his  pre- 
tended ofTense.  She  sent  a  messenger  to  James, 
explaining  the  terrible  accident,  as  she  termed 
it,  which  had  occurred,  and  deprecating  his  dis- 
pleasure. James,  though  at  first  filled  with 
indignation,  and  determined  to  avenge  his 
mother's  death,  allowed  himself  to  be  appeased. 

About  twenty  years  after  this,  Elizabeth 
died,  and  the  great  object  of  Mary's  ambition 


284         Mary   Queen   of    Scots.     [1587. 

The  end  of  Mary's  ambition  realized.  Accession  of  James  I. 

throughout  her  whole  life  was  attained  by  the 
union  of  the  Scotch  and  English  crowns  on  the 
head  of  her  son.  As  soon  as  Elizabeth  ceased 
to  breathe,  James  the  Sixth  of  Scotland  was 
proclaimed  James  the  First  of  England.  He 
was  at  that  time  nearly  forty  years  of  age.  He 
was  married,  and  had  several  young  children. 
The  circumstances  of  King  James's  journey  to 
London,  when  he  went  to  take  possession  of  his 
new  kingdom,  are  related  in  the  History  of 
Charles  I.,  belonging  to  this  series.  Though 
James  thus  became  monarch  of  both  England 
and  Scotland,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the 
two  kingdoms  were  combined.  They  remain- 
ed separate  for  many  years — two  independent 
kingitoms  governed  by  one  king. 

When  James  succeeded  to  the  English  throne, 
his  mother  had  been  dead  many  years,  and  what- 
ever feelings  of  affection  may  have  bound  his 
heart  to  her  in  early  life,  they  were  now  *well- 
nigh  obliterated  by  the  lapse  of  time,  and  by 
the  new  ties  by  which  he  was  connected  with 
his  wife  and  his  children.  As  soon  as  he  was 
seated  on  his  new  throne,  however,  he  ordered 
the  Castle  of  Fotheringay,  which  had  been  the 
scene  of  his  mother's  trial  and  death,  to  be  lev- 
eled with  the  ground,  and  he  transferred  her 


1587.] 


The    End. 


285 


Tomb  of  Mary  at  Westminster  Abbey. 


remains  to  Westminster  Abbey,  where  they  still 
repose. 


Mary's  Tomb  at  Westminster  Abbey, 


286         Mary^Queen   of    Scots.     [1587. 

Mary's  love  and  ambition.  She  triumphs  in  the  end. 

If  the  lifeless  dust  had  retained  its  conscious- 
ness when  it  was  thus  transferred,  with  what 
intense  emotions  of  pride  and  pleasure  would 
the  mother's  heart  have  been  filled,  in  being 
thus  brought  to  her  final  home  in  that  ancient 
sepulcher  of  the  English  kings,  by  her  son, 
now,  at  last,  safely  established,  where  she  had 
so  long  toiled  and  suffered  to  instate  him,  in  his 
place  in  the  line.  Ambition  was  the  great, 
paramount,  ruling  principle  of  Mary's  life. 
Love  was,  with  her,  an  occasional,  though  per- 
fectly uncontrollable  impulse,  which  came  sud- 
denly to  interrupt  her  plans  and  divert  her  from 
her  course,  leaving  her  to  get  back  to  it  again, 
after  devious  wanderings,  with  great  difficulty 
and  through  many  tears.  The  love,  with  the 
consequences  which  followed  from  it,  destroyed 
her  ;  while  the  ambition,  recovering  itself  after 
every  contest  with  its  rival,  and  holding  out 
perseveringly  to  the  last,  saved  her  son;  so  that, 
in  the  long  contest  in  which  her  life  was  spent, 
though  she  suffered  all  the  way,  and  at  last 
sacrificed  herself,  she  triumphed  in  the  end. 


The    End. 


ABBOTT'S  filSTORIBS 


IN    COURSE    OF    PUBLICATION 

36tj  lurpE  irafr  3kntljra;  %m  ^nrt 

***  Each  Volume  of  this  Series  is  printed  and  bound 
uniform  with  the  other  Volumes,  and  is  adorned  with  a 
richly-illuminated  title-page  and  numerous  Engravings. 
12mo,  Muslin,  plain  edges,  60  cents  per  volume  ;  Muslin, 
gilt  edges,  75  cents  per  volume. 

fjfctj  (Hum  nf  Irak 

This  history  is  given  here  minute  in  every  point  of  real  interest,  and 
without  the  encumbrance  of  useless  opinions.  There  is  no  sentence 
thrown  away — no  time  lost  in  mere  ornament.  Perhaps  no  book  extant 
containing  so  few  pages,  can  be  said  to  convey  so  many  genuine  historical 
facts.  There  is  here  no  attempt  to  glaze  over  recorded  truth,  or  win  the 
reader  by  sophistry  to  opinions  merely  those  of  the  author.  The  pure, 
simple  history  of  Queen  Mary  is  placed  before  the  reader,  and  each  one 
is  left  to  form  an  unbiased  opinion  from  events  impartially  recorded  there. 
One  great  and  most  valuable  feature  in  this  little  work  is  a  map  of  Scot- 
land, with  many  engravings  of  the  royal  castles  and  wild  scenes  connect- 
ed with  Mary's  history.  There  is  also  a  beautiful  portrait  of  the  Queen, 
and  a  richly  illuminated  title-page  such  as  only  the  Harpers  can  get  up 
—National  Magazine. 


(toett  CH)akt|i. 


Full  of  instructive  and  heart-stirring  incident,  displayed  by  the  hand 
of  a  master.  We  doubt  whether  old  Queen  Bess  ever  before  had  so  much 
justice  done  to  her  within  the  same  compass.  Such  a  pen  as  Jacob  Ab- 
bott wields,  especially  in  this  department  of  our  literature,  has  no  right 
to  lie  still. — Albany  Express 


2  Abbott's  Historical  Series. 

CJrertes  tilt  fmi 

We  incline  to  think  that  there  never  was  before  so  much  said  about 
this  unfortunate  monarch  in  so  short  a  space  ;  so  much  to  the  purpose  ; 
with  so  much  impartiality  ;  and  in  such  a  style  as  just  suits  those  for 
whom  it  is  designed— the  "  two  millions"  of  young  persons  in  the  United 
States,  who  ought  to  be  supplied  wi'hsuch  works  as  these.  The  en- 
gravings represent  the  prominent  persons  and  places  of  the  history,  and 
are  well  executed.  The  portrait  of  John  Hampden  is  charming.  The 
antique  title-page  is  rich. — Southern  Christian  Advocate. 


iktraikl  ttft  Cartjjagrainn. 

A  new  volume  of  the  series  projected  by  the  skillful  book-manufacturer, 
Mr.  Abbott,  who  displays  no  little  tact  in  engaging  the  attention  of  that 
marvellous  body  "the  reading  public"  in  old  scholastic  topics  hitherto 
almost  exclusively  the  property  of  the  learned.  The  latter,  with  their 
ingenious  implements  of  lexicons  and  scholia,  will  be  in  no  danger  of  be- 
ing superseded,  however,  while  the  least-furnished  reader  may  gain 
something  from  the  attractively-printed  and  easily-perused  volumes  of 
Mr.  Abbott.  The  story  of  Hannibal  is  well  adapted  for  popular  treatment, 
and  loses  nothing  for  this  purpose  in  the  present  explanatory  and  picto- 
rial version. — Literary  World. 


ftiarta  Mnirate. 

In  a  style  copious  and  yet  forcible,  with  an  expression  singularly  clear 
and  happy,  and  in  language  exceedingly  chaste  and  at  times  very  beau 
tiful,  he  has  given  us  a  plain,  unvarnished  narrative  of  facts,  as  he  him 
self  says,  unclogged  by  individual  reflections  which  would  "  only  encum- 
ber rather  than  enforce."  The  present  work  wants  none  of  the  interest 
inseparably  connecting  itself  with  the  preceding  numbers  of  the  same 
series,  but  is  characterized  throughout  by  the  same  peculiar  beauties, 
riveting  the  attention  and  deeply  engraving  on  the  mind  the  information 
with  which  they  every  where  teem. —  Evening  Mirror : 


